The Verge is reporting that Telltale Games – the company behind hit episodic video game titles such as The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Minecraft: Story Mode, Game of Thrones and Batman – could be set to close its doors.
According to reports, Telltale laid off the majority of its staff today, reportedly without any severance pay, leaving just a small team of around 25 employees remaining with the company. This follows previous layoffs back in November of last year, where around 25% of the workforce was let go.
While Telltale is yet to make any kind of statement or response to the rumours, subsequent reports are claiming that development has ceased on The Wolf Among Us 2 and Stranger Things, and Telltale will shut down following the release of the last episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season.
UPDATE: Telltale’s CEO Pete Hawley has now released a statement confirming the layoffs and that a small team has been retained to fulfil the company’s obligations:
“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.”
Originally published September 21, 2018. Updated September 22, 2018.
