UPDATE, OCTOBER 7: First, there was the idea that Telltale went bankrupt, but that there was a skeleton crew in place to finish up some of their outstanding contracts. Namely, The Walking Dead: Final Season. Then we got the update that this was off the table, too, and that Telltale was well and truly dead. And now, as it turns out, a publisher is jumping in to save the day.
Skybound Games have announced that they will work to make Telltale's The Walking Dead: Final Season a reality after all, and that they will be taking over the development and publishing of the game, with the initial Telltale developer team intact. Then again, with the way these flips are flopping, you never know...
UPDATE, OCTOBER 5: Telltale Games has laid off the "skeleton crew" staff and is presumably closed completely, marking a sad end to the 14-year-old studio.
The last few staff at the studio, following the major layoffs last month (detailed below), were meant to be working on Telltale's contractual obligations to Netflix for the Minecraft: Story Mode game. Now this may no longer be happening either. Perhaps Netflix decided to cancel it following the bad publicity of Telltale's closure, or the service is getting another studio to finish it.
Narrative designer Retchel Necronoelicon posted on Twitter about how she'd been part of the "skeleton crew" remaining at the studio, but now that's no longer the case.
Heeeeyyyy remember how there was going to be a skeleton crew staying on for a while and I was part of it? Nah, jk, we all just got laid off, too.
— Retchel Necronoelicon (@anameformyself) October 4, 2018
She did update later with the clarification that there are still "good people" at Telltale working on things, but whether that's Minecraft, Walking Dead: The Final Season, or just business deals, we can't be certain.
ORIGINAL STORY, SEPTEMBER 21: Telltale Games have been around for a while now. In fact, they've been around long enough for some of us to remember enjoying demo versions of their ancient Sam & Max point 'n' click adventures as they released on DVDs, part of local monthly gaming magazines.
It was a fun time, and it took a while before it winded down, but now they're gone, and financially speaking, Telltale is no more. The company has now announced complete and total bankruptcy, with nary a skeleton crew remaining on-board to fulfil their outstanding contracts.
What this means, in practical terms, is that not only will we not ever get the recently announced Wolf Among Us Season 2, but that after Telltale's skeleton crew is finished with The Walking Dead, there will be no more of that, either. No more Batman, Tales from the Borderlands, nor of any of their other projects.
Though Sam & Max were done a while back, there was always a sliver of hope for yet another season. Now that's gone, too, and Telltale are closing down with the finality that feels particularly heavy for those of us who've grown up watching them grow and release various games both good and bad.
According to sources, the planned contract with Netflix to bring Stranger Things to life in standard Telltale fashion fell through for this or that reason, and this was the final nail in the coffin for the struggling company.
