Popular game developer Telltale Games is reportedly shutting its doors soon, according to co-founder Kevin Bruner. This follows the large layoff of staff back in November 2017, as well as a lawsuit by the aforementioned co-founder. According to The Verge, more staff were laid off earlier today, leaving only a small team of 25 employees. Additionally, The Verge reports that the dismissed employees did not receive any severance pay.

Kevin Bruner has published a statement on his personal blog, reflecting his sorrow for the employees that lost their jobs.

Today, I’m mostly saddened for the people who are losing their jobs at a studio they love. And I’m also saddened at the loss of a studio that green-lit crazy ideas that no one else would consider. I’m comforted a bit knowing there are now so many new talented people and studios creating games in the evolving narrative genre. While I look forward to those games and new developments, and continuing to contribute, I will always find “A Telltale Game” to have been a unique offering.

Telltale Games most recently released the first episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season, with the second episode to release next week.

UPDATE: The official Telltale Games Twitter handle has released a statement.

pic.twitter.com/evqg5X98WZ

— Telltale (@telltalegames) September 21, 2018

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Kevin Bruner's blog post

The Verge report

 

[DarkOrb]

I hope they will still release the 2nd and 3rd season of TWD for the Switch.

 

[PrincessLillie]

And nothing of value was lost.

 

[BlueFox gui]

The Wolf Among Us 2 and Stranger Things are cancelled

 

[BlastedGuy9905]

w-WHAT?! This is a big game company! A really big one. Stuff like this doesn't happen a lot.. Damn. I liked Telltale Games.

 

[Closet Nerd]

It sucks these folks are losing their jobs.

Having said that, these games did nothing for me.

 

[Wrathcaster]

And nothing of value was lost.

Maybe to you, to many others including me this is very sad news, enjoyed pretty much most of their games.

 

[DKB]

The employees will remember that.

 

[Deleted User]

Will we at least be getting all of season 3 still?

This sucks they where such a great company and did amazing work

 

[BiggieCheese]

Can’t say i’m surprised, the last CEO they had before the new guy supposedly screwed a lot of things up through poor management and overworking their devs, not only that but I heard that nothing sold quite as well as their first season of the walking dead, only gettting worse with every new title.

 

[jumpman17]

But what about The Wolf Among Us 2?????????????

 

[PrincessLillie]

Maybe to you, to many others this is very sad news

Honestly, the games made by Telltale never really struck my fancy, especially since your choices don't even change the ending and just affect what happens next, and that's that. Yes, it is sad that many employees lost their jobs, but you can't deny that the illusion of game-changing choices that these games give you can be annoying and even frustrating at times.

 

[ShadowOne333]

That's what happens when you make your games like DVD Interactive Mini-games instead of an actual game.
I can't say I'm moved by this, as I never understood why people used to like this kind of "games" when they barely have any gameplay to call it one.

But hey, at least they are moving on, and hopefully towards more embracing games.

 

[Wrathcaster]

Honestly, the games made by Telltale never really struck my fancy, especially since your choices don't even change the ending and just affect what happens next, and that's that. Yes, it is sad that many employees lost their jobs, but you can't deny that the illusion of game-changing choices that these games give you can be annoying and even frustrating at times.

Yea I don't deny that, but the false impression of making your choices never bothered me, I just enjoyed their stories. Was always good to relax to a basic game with a good story for a few hours at night

 

[kingtut]

But what about The Wolf Among Us 2?????????????

Presumably cancelled unfortunately, along with stranger things project

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

With telltales, I will acknowledge that their quality went downhill. But I honestly think that the solution was simply take more time to upgrade their engine, and plan for their next big project. Not get shut down all together.

 

[KingVamp]

That would be disappointing. Some people might scoff at it, but this would be a big blow to that genre and type of game.

 

[Vieela]

This is crazy. Telltale Games is a pretty big company, and for them to close like this shows there has been insane bad management. Even if their games sold little, a bunch of other things could've backed their business for still some few months. Sad to see it going like this :/

 

[kingtut]

This is crazy. Telltale Games is a pretty big company, and for them to close like this shows there has been insane bad management. Even if their games sold little, a bunch of other things could've backed their business for still some few months. Sad to see it going like this :/

They also won worst publisher last year, which did not help them.

 

[Dominator211]

well, this is unfortunate I really did enjoy playing Minecraft story mode. I remember playing through on my iPad mini 1 and having it kinda stutter along, but it worked. hope season 2 comes out for the switch. Some may not care but something might come up that could be better nobody really knows.

 

[Windaga]

Nooo

That's horrible news. I really loved their work .The only recent game of theirs I didn't buy was Game of Thrones. I was really hoping for Wolf Among us 2