Telltale Games has laid off 285 employees, effectively ending the episodic developer’s operations. The studio is retaining 25 staff to complete the final season of its The Walking Dead adaptation, but online scuttlebutt suggests that its in-production Wolf Among Us and Stanger Things series have been cancelled. The Verge is reporting that none of the staff have received severance pay.
It’s been a turbulent time for Telltale Games these past few years, with reports of toxic management behind-the-scenes. Earlier in the year, former co-founder Kevin Bruner sued the organisation seeking recovery of financial damages. It’s not the first time that the firm’s been hit with layoffs either – last November it let go of 25 per cent of its workforce citing the “realities of [its] environment”.
From our perspective, the oversaturation of Telltale Games’ output has diminished the inherent novelty of its titles, which has no doubt had a huge impact on their commercial performance. Nevertheless, the studio was in the process of restructuring itself, so it’s a shame that it’s now unlikely to see the procedure through.
Naturally, our thoughts go out to all of those who suddenly find themselves out of work.
Update: New reports say that the final season of The Walking Dead has also been cancelled. You can read more about that through here.
[source theverge.com, via gamasutra.com]
Comments 54
this is sad to hear and after they had just showed the trailer for ep 2 of season 4 of the walking dead.
I’m shocked, I wasn’t aware of the troubles indicated in this article.
Hopefully the folks will find new employment soon.
“From our perspective, the oversaturation of Telltale Games’ output has diminished the inherent novelty of its titles, which has no doubt had a huge impact on their commercial performance.”
Yeah, I completely agree with this viewpoint 100%
Sad and, honestly, a little shocked to see this. Hope everyone finds new work!
As much as Telltales were in the proverbial poop... I did enjoy some of their games. Here's hoping they can salvage the good projects and resume development.
Not entirely shocked.
Given their statements on their engine letting people down and then licensing Unity, constant use of licensed stuff to pay the bills in extremely frequent releases, leaving their own IP to sit and wait while they pump out licensed game upon game each month, combined with the news of layoffs last year or so...
This tells me they had no room to make their own projects free of another property like Batman, TWD or Minecraft, and their own struggles just piled up.
A shame, but the reality of the business. Plenty of talented writing folks who are now out, maybe they can help BioWare?
Seasonpass discs, terrible engine, to much yeah its a pity for the people who lost their Jobs the company its not my favorite thats for sure. I hate them especially for their retail incomplete games.
Only ever played tales of the borderlands but really enjoyed it and thought about getting the wolf amongst us a few times in sales. Haven't they just released a new walking dead game? I didn't know they were in trouble. I thought a stranger things game might have been really interesting
It's sad people got laid off. I think the formula just got old after TWD Season 1. All the other ones after just felt tedious, subsequently just made me uninterested in these"walking sims" anymore. Everyone loved Heavy Rain but Detroit BH not so much as evidenced in the reviews (not saying they're Telltale games). They're getting tiring.
Whoa! This is a big BAD surprise! Truthfully, I haven't played one of their games in a few years, but still...didn't think this would happen!
Anyway, thank you Telltale Games for resurrecting one of my favorite genres!
I'm surely sad but I can't say that I'm surprised...they refused to basically evolve since 2012, and virtually did the same game over and over just changing the story!
Sad, I actually enjoyed the games a lot but oh well!
It's sad people have lost jobs, but the quality has gotten worse overtime and they did over extended themselves with releasing so many games which resulted in a dip in quality and some very long wait times between episodes and they really haven't tried to.evolve , when other company's are doing the same thing better.
"From our perspective, the oversaturation of Telltale Games’ output has diminished the inherent novelty of its titles, which has no doubt had a huge impact on their commercial performance."
100% agree with this. There was a time when Telltale titles were cool and new, but for the last couple of years I feel like there's been barely any interest. Play one you've played them all kind of thing.
Think that probably comes down to bad management. Still, it's crap that so many people have lost their jobs.
@ShogunRok
Yep also Think bad management is to blame and sure it's been a problem for sometime. Most people i know will wait till there games are on sale with how long a game can take get all episode out the season pass unusual on sale for a fraction of the price at launch, which is down to releasing to many games at once, in the beginning you get set your watch by when a epiodse would release, know it's pot luck
I'm actually gutted by this news. I always found their games a nice change of pace. Good luck to all those involved.
Genuinely sad about this. I know they come in for criticism sometimes, but I've enjoyed every game I've played of theirs...
Game of Thrones
The Walking Dead S1
Tales From The Borderlands
Minecraft Story Mode
Batman S1
...in that order. Bye Telltale and cheers for the easy platinums
@Splat Yeah they make good palate-cleansers between bigger games I think
Very sad, loved most of their output. Really enjoyed TWD, Borderlands, GoT and Wolf. I even enjoyed Guardians, Batman and Minecraft although I didn’t think it was up to spec and suffered a bit from seeming to be rushed out. Always looked forward to their new releases!
Well, there goes the one game I really wanted from them, Wolf Among Us 2.
Gutted - hate to see people lose their jobs and I felt their restructure was hopefully going to work out and was looking forward to A Wolf Among Us 2.
@get2sammyb what is going on ? poor sale or what ?
Damn this sucks.
Hopefully the heart of what made them great can be carried over to new projects somewhere else. Would be a real shame if we never get a follow up to The Wolf Among Us.
Yeah, this stinks. I agree that the Telltale games were nice distractions between larger, more time intensive and difficult games. And I agree they oversaturated the market with the same formula.
Ironic that the news came out today that Deck Nine is getting more projects because of their success with Before the Storm because I’ve always thought that LiS was a natural evolution of the formula Telltale made famous. But Telltale didn’t innovate, and other studios have picked up the baton to carry on producing high quality interesting episodic story heavy games that highlight player choice.
Best of luck to all the employees affected. Hopefully they find work.
@porhawj2016 Seems like it, yeah.
Wow that’s a shame. I’m sure there must still be a market out there for what they do. I for one loved their Batman games.
A recent article seemed to suggest that they turned the corner so this is quite a shock.
This really is terrible news! I loved all their games and I'm pretty saddened to hear this.
I genuinely feel sorry for all those now out of work and I hope something comes their way soon..
@Th3solution "Telltale didn't innovate, and other studios have picked up the baton"
I think you've nailed it there, sadly.
Genuinely upset that I won't see a proper end to the Forrester family story in GoT!
I'm shocked. I've never liked their games - tried a few - but I rarely like anything popular. I assumed making game after game on the same engine would help keep them going.
Also shocked they had over 300 people. With the type of game they make I would think 10% of that number would be enough. Probably contributed to their downfall.
Anybody think YouTube did them in? I wouldn't let my kid get Minecraft, looked the same watchin it on YT as playing it.
That's really unfortunate for all the staff losing their jobs.
sad news.
hope they get new work soon.
maybe some of the writers can go into a sony owned studio?
some of their writing realy is sony exclusive worthy.
What???!? This is all of a sudden and came out of nowhere. Doesnt bode well for the rest of this series of TWD (thank goodness the story will be finished). And that means no more batman. Which is a VERY sad thing indeed. What a shame!
This is really sad, Tales From The Borderlands is honestly one of my favourite ever games, and it looks like we're not gonna see a season 2 :/
Wow, this is crazy. Hopefully everyone lands on their feet.
@ShogunRok Looking at the supposed leaks from cut staff. It's shocking that only Minecraft and the first season of TWD were actually profitable. Borderlands I can understand, but Batman?! Maybe that says more about the Telltale style gameplay than we thought.
Sad to see people lose job, hopefully they all land on their feet.
Wow! That’s crazy! I’ve made fun of their “your choices matter” mantra for a long time but I would never want to see them close. That sucks.
Some of the saddest video game related news I've heard in quite a while...
I'm in complete disbelief.
@Miles_Edgeworth That one bombed hard so it wasn't gonna happen anyway.
I'm honestly surprised. Yeah, they kept using the same formula, but they still had some decent success. Guess it wasn't enough.
Thoughts for the recently unemployed. Hopefully they get new jobs fast.
@naruba
Yes, pretty sure it did so bad that half way through the season they said there wouldn't be another
Wow i wasn't expecting this it's very sad but i agree with the saturation
That’s really sad, I hope they find a new job soon. I love their games too, I will really miss them.
Sad to hear. Hopefully the employees are able to find some new work. We can always hope that another company buys the IP for The Wolf Among Us. Slaps EA and Activisions hands not you!!
Telltale have now confirmed the news via Twitter.
@ShogunRok @get2sammyb So who is picking up The Walking Dead License and Such. Surely they aren't leaving these games unfinished.
@Tasuki We'll have to wait and see. The whole story is insane, I'm still wrapping my head around it.
Damn, thats a shame.
Perhaps THQ can buy them later on, seems to be their thing.
Farewell, Bigby.
thq can buy them.thq is sitting on a goldmine.word up son
@get2sammyb that strange.. i heard CEO sued Telltales for some dumb reasons. i am pissing off because The walking dead final season got cancelled
@ShogunRok This is what happens when you make exactly the same game game with different skins thirteen times in a row. I'm terribly sad for the workers, Let's pray they find good jobs soon enough.
I've never played any of their games before but I've bought a decent amount of them.
Will be sure to play TWD series in October to pay my respect to the former developer.
That’s too bad. I love Telltale Games’ games. My wife “took over” my tv with the PS4 last weekend, so I went back to the other tv and I played through the first episode of Jurassic Park. Even with that game, you could see the potential and the amazing future that would come about for Telltale, with instant classics The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and Tales from the Borderlands. It’s unfortunate there was such a explosion of output, and I think they did supersaturate their own market. Their titles need to breathe. More time between games is important; to create a larger sense of longing and anticipation is essential to build buzz and grow the base. It’s so hard to remain relevant in this industry, though, because there are so many gaming choices out there. I wish the staff well. They’re brilliant people with so much talent.
I wish all the staff the best of luck, but damm i really wanted the Wolf among us 2
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