Telltale Games, the studio responsible for games likeThe Walking Dead,Tales from the Borderlands, andThe Wolf Among Us,has reportedly been hit with huge layoffs that have resulted in the majority of its projects being canceled.
According toGamasutra— which had previously reported that the studio would be shuttered completely — only 25 employees at Telltale Games will remain at the company in order to finish work onThe Walking Dead: The Final Season.USGameralso reported that both the plannedStranger Thingsgame andThe Wolf Among Us: Season 2have been canceled as a result of the layoffs.
Telltale had reportedly been struggling with management issues and technical concerns related to its proprietary game engine, though it appeared the company was ready to move away from the technology in favor of the popular Unity engine.
According to Variety, Telltale was seeing decreasing returns on its episodic series as of late, with games likeGuardians of the GalaxyandBatman: The Enemy Withinperforming particularly poorly. Telltale laid off about a quarter of its workforce last November — amounting to 90 employees — and it seems very unlikely that the 25-person skeleton crew will be able to continue releasing new games afterThe Walking Deadconcludes.
It’s a far cry from where Telltale was just a few years ago. The success of the originalThe Walking Deadgame paved the way for a variety of new partnerships. In addition toThe Wolf Among UsandTales from the Borderlands, the studio developed games based on HBO’sGame of ThronesandMinecraft.
Other game developers have already begun reaching out in order to help those who lost their jobs get back on their feet.Star Wars: Battlefront IIwriter Mitch Dyer shared a Google document withcurrent job openings, many of which are in California where Telltale is based.
Telltale Games is the second major studio hit by layoffs this week.Dead RisingdeveloperCapcom Vancouver announced it was shutting its doorsjust a few days ago, despite the success of parent company Capcom’s recent releases.
The Walking Dead: The Final Seasoncurrently has one released episode. The second is scheduled to launch September 25, with the final episode due in December.
