The Walking Dead Studio Telltale Games to Shut Down, Lays Off Most of Its Staff

Telltale Games, the developer behind The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Batman, Minecraft, and Game of Thrones adventure games is shutting down after completing its contractual obligations. In the interim, it has laid off 225 employees with only 25 remaining. The company announced the news after several employees took to Twitter to state they were no longer a part of the company. This comes as a surprise as Telltale was actively courting the press for its upcoming line up of games.

"It's been an incredibly difficult year for Telltale as we worked to set the company on a new course," said Telltale CEO Pete Hawley in a prepared statement. "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."

The remaining employees will continue work on Minecraft: Story Mode that Telltale is collaborating is working on with Netflix. Meanwhile, other projects such as remaining episodes of the final game season of The Walking Dead will probably not happen.

"We are saddened by the news about Telltale Games – they developed many great games in the past and left an indelible mark in the industry," a spokesperson for Netflix told Variety. "Minecraft: Story Mode is still moving forward as planned. We are in the process of evaluating other options for bringing the Stranger Things universe to life in an interactive medium."

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