Introduction
Yesterday, it was reported by various sources that Telltale Games, the developers behind The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and many other series, laid off all but twenty-five of their 250 person staff. The remaining developers were reportedly kept on board to help “fulfill the company's obligations to its board and partners”. This was followed with news that the current season of The Walking Dead and the planned second season of The Wolf Among Us being cancelled.
What has people more frustrated than anything though, is the apparent treatment those laid off by the developer have received. Reports of a lack of severance pay and people being hired as recently as a week before the layoffs have led many to criticise the the company's management leading to this announcement.
What We Know
With how early we are into this situation, there is a lot of speculation going on. For the time being, these are the current facts in relation to the announcement.
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Of the 250 staff members, only a skeleton crew of 25 remain
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TellTale co-founder and former CEO Kevin Bruner referred to the layoffs as a “majority studio closure” in a blog post.
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Several people who were laid off have stated both openly and anonymously that those laid off will not be receiving any form of severance pay.
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Several series, including the upcoming Stranger Things season, are being cancelled.
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These are not the first layoffs done by Telltale, who released 90 staff members in November of 2017.
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Current CEO Pete Hawley made a statement that while releases have been given positive feedback, these did not translate into sales.
Conclusions
To call these developments disappointing would be an understatement, to say the lease. Since its release of the first season of The Walking Dead in 2012, the studio has become a favorite amongst gamers. Even more so are the revelation the people behind these series have such poor treatment from the company's management. As mentioned earlier, this is still a developing story, but as thing stand it seems unlikely things are going to get any better.