Telltale Games, the studio responsible for episodic adventure games like
The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Batman: The Enemy Within, and plenty more, is reportedly shutting down. The story right now is still developing, but numerous outlets are reporting massive layoffs for the developer. According to
Gamasutra, numerous developers from the studio have taken to Twitter and Facebook regarding the layoffs.
The Verge reports that a small team of around 25 will remain on board to help finish
The Walking Dead: The Final Season. After that, Telltale will reportedly shut its doors for good.
Telltale rose to prominence in 2012 with the success of
The Walking Dead Season 1, a narrative adventure game based on Robert Kirkman's post-apocalyptic series with an original story. The studio expanded rapidly, branching out to various other franchises, including
Batman, Game of Thrones, Guardians of the Galaxy, and
Minecraft. They even had a partnership with Netflix
to create a game based on the hit sci-fi show Stranger Things.
Forbes' Joe Parlock claims that despite the high profile franchise partnerships, many of Telltale's games failed financially. According to his source,
Batman: The Enemy Within "tanked and was one of the worst commercial failures for Telltale."
The Wolf Among Us, Game of Thrones, Tales from the Borderlands, and everything post Season 1 of
The Walking Dead are also apparently considered "financial failures."
Last November, Telltale had laid off 90 employees, approximately 25 percent of the studio's workforce. At the time, the studio rationalized it as "reorienting our organization with a focus on delivering fewer, better games with a smaller team." We've heard stories of a toxic work environment and lawsuits from co-founder and former CEO Kevin Bruner, but news of the studio's permanent closing still comes as a surprise. Former employees laid off today are apparently not getting severance due to the company's bankruptcy.
Although the skeleton crew remaining at Telltale will stay on to finish
The Walking Dead The Final Season, both
The Wolf Among Us Season 2 and
Stranger Things are effectively canceled.