Today again there has been news as the situation around Telltale Games closure seeps through the cracks. For those who are not aware of the recent events, it was last month that the majority of the Telltale Games staff was let go after a variety of potential backers pulled out of negotiations. For those that remained, reports state their goal was to work on the Minecraft: Story Mode project they had in place with Netflix. From here we saw The Walking Dead being pulled from storefronts, a lawsuit from former employees, and a mass outpour of support from across the games industry. Today more news has come out in regards to the continuation of Clementine's story, as well as the state of the company.
Today Kotaku revealed via their sources that Telltale was in the process of finding a company to hand off the final two episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season so that the game's final two chapters would be able to get completed and released to the public. At first many were taken aback questioning the company's decision to terminate staff just to work with another company to finish the project but it seems that part of the deal would be for this external company to hire on former Telltale employees on a contract basis. Speaking with their sources Kotaku found out that at this time Episode 3 of The Walking Dead: The Final Season is practically complete with only some final polishing and administration to be completed like getting sent off for rating, and that the first round of voice acting for the final episode was complete and a playable version would have been ready for review by the end of September.
For those that were still part of the skeleton crew trying to finish off The Walking Dead, it seems that some have also been met with the unfortunate fate of being let go from the company without severence. The news of the layoffs came from Narrative Designed Rachel Noel via Twitter:
https://twitter.com/anameformyself/status/1047930803634630657
Further clarification was added that while the team that she was a part of was let go there are a few people still working at Telltale but "not many." After the initial Layoff's in mid-September Rachel was one of the first to explain the situation of what was left in the aftermath following the mass layoffs explaining that "the team remaining at the studio that I am personally involved with is very small and doesn't constitute the entirety of the 25 employees remaining." Rachel clarified later on Twitter that she was tweeting out to inform people of the continued layoffs and that she has no further information to share on what's next for the company.
For many who might be seeing this all unfold with concern for the former employees as they seek out new work and for the conclusion of the story Robert Kirkman, the writer of The Walking Dead has said that he isn't worried about the resolution of Clementine's arc. When asked at New York Comic-Con about if he'll be writing Clem into the story he responded with the following message:
Stay tuned, everyone involved is trying to make sure Clementine's story is told. I'm not concerned at the moment with telling that story in the comics.Whether this stance has changed as more news unfolds though is up to anyone. As this story continues to unfold be sure to keep an eye on TechRaptor.
What do you think of the latest news to come out about the situation around Telltale's closure and former employees? What are your thoughts on The Walking Dead The Final Season? Are you avoiding the game? Let us know in the comments below
