Telltale Games Cancels Games, Lays Off Staff, Prepares for Closure - The UpStream

Telltale Games Cancels Games, Lays Off Staff, Prepares for Closure

posted Saturday Sep 22, 2018 by Scott Ertz

Telltale Games Cancels Games, Lays Off Staff, Prepares for Closure

2018 has been a rough year for videogame studios. This year has seen studios like Wargaming Seattle and Carbine Studios close their doors. For some, like Wargaming, the operations of their games shift to sister studios. For others, like Carbine, the operations of their games will cease entirely. Most notably, that means the end of unique free-to-play MMO WildStar.

While neither of those shutdowns was a massive surprise or industry-changing, this week brought a different scenario, with the announcement of the end of Telltale Games. This studio has produced a long line of popular titles, including the immensely successful The Walking Dead episodic series, and Minecraft: Story Mode. While all of these games may have vastly different properties, they all have a distinctly Telltale style.

Whether it be the distinctive style or their reliance on other companies' properties for their games that led to the company's downfall we will likely never know. What we do know is that the company has let the majority of its staff go this week and has begun the process of dissolving the studio entirely. The company issued a statement explaining,

Today Telltale Games made the difficult decision to begin a majority studio closure following a year marked by insurmountable challenges. A majority of the company's employees were dismissed earlier this morning, with a small group of 25 employees staying on to fulfill the company's obligations to its board and partners. CEO Pete Hawley issued the following statement:

"It's been an incredibly difficult year for Telltale as we worked to set the company on a new course. Unfortunately, we ran out of time trying to get there. We released some of our best content this year and received a tremendous amount of positive feedback, but ultimately, that did not translate to sales. With a heavy heart, we watch our friends leave today to spread our brand of storytelling across the games industry."

Telltale Games has had a lot of impact on both the videogame industry, as well as on the overall gaming community. The distinctive style has produced some of the most interesting fanart and cosplays, including from one of our new correspondents, Julian. The loss of this studio will be felt industry-wide, but with the staff leaving and likely going to other studios, there is the likelihood that their legacy will live on in other games and other studios.

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