It appears that a massive round of layoffs has hit Telltale Games, developers of such well-regarded titles as Batman: The Enemy Within, the Minecraft: Story Mode games, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Walking Dead and others. While no official statement has been released, sources speaking to VentureBeat have confirmed the layoffs. Another source said that the company is down to only 25 remaining employees out of 400. Some believe this is a precursor to a complete shutdown of the respected studio.
Telltale has issued the following statement:
Today Telltale Games made the difficult decision to begin a majority studio closure following a year marked by insurmountable challenges. A majority of the company’s employees were dismissed earlier this morning, with a small group of 25 employees staying on to fulfill the company’s obligations to its board and partners. CEO Pete Hawley issued the following statement:
“It's been an incredibly difficult year for Telltale as we worked to set the company on a new course. Unfortunately, we ran out of time trying to get there. We released some of our best content this year and received a tremendous amount of positive feedback, but ultimately, that did not translate to sales. With a heavy heart, we watch our friends leave today to spread our brand of storytelling across the games industry.”
Telltale will issue further comments regarding its product portfolio in the coming weeks.
One of the affected employees, Emily Grace Buck, announced via Twitter that she did not have a job at which time the story began to spread.
Telltale Games has been in existence since 2004, originally founded by ex-LucasArts employees. It has been well known for its narrative adventure games covering some of the world's most popular entertainment IPs.
A closure, or even such a drastic reduction in staff, means that the Stranger Things games that had been announced earlier this year are cancelled.
Read more at Kotaku or any of the sources linked above.
The War Within Hotfixes - 25 March
The War Within Hotfixes - March 25
