The good news is The Walking Dead’s last season will be completed; the bad news is that will be the end of it. Reliable sources have told Mojo Telltale is closing down, and that all other projects will remain unfinished. We will return with more.
Update: Apparently a team of 25 have been retained to finish up the now ironically named The Walking Dead, while the rest of the staff was laid off without severance. Classy, Telltale. What will happen with the company is uncertain. Shut 100% down? Be a clearing house for outsourced development in name only? Only yesterday, they announced they would publish Stranded Deep on October 9th, so who knows what’s going on there . . .
Update #2: Telltale has made it official, and thus Mojo has outlived LEC and TTG. Somebody keep an eye on Double Fine.
Update #3: The rumor train has it that Netflix canceled their deal with TTG, thus ending development of Stranger Things and whatever Minecraft: Story Mode would have looked like on the platform. Apparently that dried up TTG’s funds. #rumormonger
Update #4: Newest rumor has it Minecraft on Netflix is what the skeleton crew is finishing, which means the Walking Dead tetralogy will end with episode two of season four. I don’t even know anymore.
Source: elTee
KestrelPi
Echoes of LucasArts here. They became obsessed with properties and IPs and forgot that games are made by teams of people you nurture and grow.
Except LucasArts being a part of LucasFilm, they already owned the IPs they worked on. Substantial difference.
The whole business model of TTG was based on basically doing work for things they couldn't fully own.
KestrelPi
Echoes of LucasArts here. They became obsessed with properties and IPs and forgot that games are made by teams of people you nurture and grow.
I hoped they'd use the success of walking dead s1 to invest in an original IP. I wanted that so badly, and I almost expected it. It never even came close. What a waste.
I was lucky enough to spend a few days with Double Fine last month and was really struck by how much everyone cares about each other there, and how even 18 years later they still have people working there who were there right at the beginning, or not much later.
Alexrd
Seeing their social media over the last months/year, only one thing comes to mind: get woke, go broke.
For the sake of my migraine, I hope you're joking, because no-one could be this stupid.
Remi
Jones Jr
In a new twist Telltale isn't shutting down?
See the clearing house update in the story. LEC never shut down either. Except of course it did. Whatever will be left is not Telltale.
Of course, you're no doubt right. Still holding out a bit of hope for a better ending...
Jones Jr
In a new twist Telltale isn't shutting down?
See the clearing house update in the story. LEC never shut down either. Except of course it did. Whatever will be left is not Telltale.
Jones Jr
Laserschwert
I feel really sorry for all the designers, programmers and artists losing their jobs. As for Telltale itself, I really couldn't care less. TTG was only relevant to me during the Rodkin-era, everything after that was just shallow, repetitive, buggy crap.
Been struggling with how to phrase my feelings on this, but this pretty much sums it up perfectly. Considering the promise shown at the start it is a shame.
Me 3
I wonder if those of us who used to buy their games from Telltale directly will at least be given Steam codes or something. I can't re-buy all those games on full price, and I have a feeling they won't stay up on Steam and GOG long.
jp-30
I'm surprised another big company didn't just buy them out, surely there's some value in their staff, their legacy and their current licenses?
Unless this is all just a big ego-trip "Fuck You" to Bruner and his lawsuit...
Telltale might not be all that attractive an acquisition, precisely their library is license-based. It means that the studio's catalog is useless to own without also making expensive deals for the IPs. And even if the existing arrangements would get grandfathered in, they're still a ticking time bomb and would expire at some point. It's like buying somebody else's mortgage.
Telltale imposed a brutal ceiling on its equity by never investing in original IP. Aside from Nelson Tethers and Texas Hold'em, I'm not sure they own anything outright.
Unless this is all just a big ego-trip "Fuck You" to Bruner and his lawsuit...
Update 4 on US Gamers coverage says that TWD is not getting finished, but that the skeleton crew is completing Minecraft Story Mode for Netflix.
Either way, there is not any good news coming out about this...
Laserschwert
I feel really sorry for all the designers, programmers and artists losing their jobs. As for Telltale itself, I really couldn't care less. TTG was only relevant to me during the Rodkin-era, everything after that was just shallow, repetitive, buggy crap.
Been struggling with how to phrase my feelings on this, but this pretty much sums it up perfectly. Considering the promise shown at the start it is a shame.
They should have tried to come up with some original IP also.
jp-30
Jennifer
Wow. I'm just completely blindsided.
Were / are you still modding the forums there?
Yep. I'm still a moderator there. I had no heads up whatsoever. It'll be interesting to moderate the forums in the coming months, to say the least. Well, at least until Telltale shuts the forums down altogether.
Jennifer
Wow. I'm just completely blindsided.
Were / are you still modding the forums there?
Bloodnose
I'm sad to see them go...but Stranger Things was the first game I was looking forward to from them in years.
Same. Did anyone play Guardians of the Galaxy?
Kidding aside, fuck this shit. // sigh // Off to download all the games I have purchased before the website gets taken down too.
(and activate them all - can't recall if it's a one-off server handshake or happens every time you launch :/ ...)
I'll always appreciate them for giving Monkey Island and Sam and Max a reprieve, when nobody else would/could; makes me kinda happy that I chose to give up the cowl in the latest season of Batman, too.
IT'S AN ENDING.
neon_git
I hope everyone lands on their feet.
Well, except those with the golden parachutes and/or were perhaps helping run Zynga at one time. Except the ones that squeezed this company from the greatness it once was. Yes, all the others, good luck.
After that when I starting working for PC Zone UK magazine it was Telltale's games I was predominantly doing, because I was the expert in them. My Strong Bad reviews, and I think one Wallace & Gromit review, are still on GamesRadar now.
I've still been reviewing them up until now for various outlets, and was looking forward to more Wolf Among Us and their long-awaited engine update. I'm deeply sad now.
Best of luck to everyone looking for a new job today.