It was recently announced that game studio Telltale Games will be shutting down on account of major layoffs. Despite this, one of it's currently in-development series will come to fruition, whilst others aren't so lucky.
According to Matt Kim of the USGamer, Telltale's The Walking Dead: The Final Season will not be completed by the remaining skeleton crew, but rather cancelled outright amidst the season. Premiering on August 1st, the second episode of The Final Season was set to debut next week - and thankfully, Kim later confirmed that at least the second episode will see the light of day.
While it was said that about 25 employees would remain at work to fulfil "obligations to its board and partners," this statement was evidently not referring to The Final Season, but in actuality was referring to the interactive animated series Minecraft: Story Mode which the studio was developing in collaboration with Netflix.
Netflix recently provided a statement to Variety, who reached out to the company for a comment about its partnership with the developer. The following statement is provided via an official spokesperson:
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. 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.
On the other side of the coin, as the Netflix rep revealed; the Stranger Things game which the studio was developing is unfortunately flat-out dead in the water. Though as they are "evaluating other options" perhaps we can expect the streaming service to collaborate with another studio.
What are you thoughts on Telltale's closure? Are you glad that at least Minecraft: Story Mode and the second episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season will see the light of day?