gaming Telltale Games Majority Studio Closure

[joanro 247]

https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/21/17888162/telltale-games-layoffs-the-walking-dead

I am disappointed that I won't get to see how the Final Season of the Walking Dead ends. It just seems really shady the way they went about it. If they knew the company was in trouble, why announce another season for a series they would not be able to finish working on?

What are your thoughts?

[Denim&Venöm 19,162]

I mean it sucks, but the outpouring in favor of the employees has been tremendous and heartwarming. 

[Sparklefan1234 171,839]

I'll miss Telltale's "Batman" series. 

[Prometheus 3,038]

It's a shame that they're having to close down, but after hearing about their treatment of staff and just bulk-buying the rights to as many franchises as they could get their hands on, I'm starting to think it may have been the best thing for them.

The fact that they proceeded with the final season of Walking Dead despite their trouble just shows that they had no idea what they were doing, so I think, again, that closure might have been their best option. If they want any kind of credibility, or have any integrity left,  they should at least offer refunds to those who bought the season pass for the final season.

What annoys me most of all is that we'll never get a sequel to their Game of Thrones game, ends right on a cliffhanger as well. 

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,651]

I am going to take a different view here and say...I won't miss Telltale, at all. I personally thought that their games were hideously overrated. They were all the same, countless licensed properties made into point and click games that offered a choice system that did nothing, despite being the most heavily advertised feature. Once I realized that all of your choices are always invalidated, I stopped caring about their games. They never came up with anything unique, they just took something popular and applied the same formula of lies to each one. Then comes along a game like Life is Strange that showed that they COULD do something original with the concept, but their terrible game engine would probably explode once they tried to do anything unique. What they made barely qualified as 'games' in the first place, yet they were so dedicated to just doing the same thing over and over and over again. Obviously because they thought they hit the never ending jackpot after The Walking Dead season 1 won game of the year for 2012, which was absolute nonsense. They even tried some publishing of other games, like how they published the game 7 Days to Die on consoles. Despite the fact that the game was NOT finished on PC and the support for the console version basically died. Oh but we could play as characters from the Walking Dead Telltale Game. AWESOME. Thanks for nothing Telltale.

Now we have this mess with the final season of The Walking Dead, where it looks like they will not finish it nor will they provide refunds to owners of the season pass. I don't care how terrible their management of their money was, this is a very shitty way to go out. Oh, you became attached to Clementine and stuck with her for 6 YEARS? SORRY, you don't get to know how her story ends. SORRY. Thinking about that more, it really pisses me off. I am surprised more people are not angry about that fact.

Personally, I say good riddance to them. This does suck for the employees I guess, though they are already getting job offerings so they aren't losing much, so meh.

[EpicEnergy 23,222]

It's sad to hear that Telltale is closing down, it had potential. They could also at least finish what they started, which frustrates me. Oh well, life goes on. I never really got sucked into Telltale's games anyways, except the Walking Dead, I love that game. I hope they decide to finish it or at least leave it at a good spot and not a cliffhanger.

Edited September 23, 2018 by EpicEnergy

[Will Guide 21,362]

If they close, will their past games made in the past still be accessible? Like Sam and Max and Tales of Monkey Island

@Kyoshi

Sorry, but I cannot agree with you. Telltale games brought us 3 great seasons of Sam and Max as well as Tales of Monkey Island, not to mention Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,651]

11 minutes ago, Willusion said:

If they close, will their past games made in the past still be accessible? Like Sam and Max and Tales of Monkey Island

@Kyoshi

Sorry, but I cannot agree with you. Telltale games brought us 3 great seasons of Sam and Max as well as Tales of Monkey Island, not to mention Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People.

I knew someone would bring this up. What do those 3 games have in common? They are Funny, light-hearted point and click adventure games, with simple, comedic and self-contained stories. Everything from Walking Dead onwards, all abandoned what made those games so loved in the first place, with their oh so serious and mature stories that actually were not written all that well and they all had such a massive emphasis on a 'choice' system that was garbage and didn't mean anything, yet we were suppose to take these stories so very seriously. Sam and Max, Strongbad and Monkey Island, they were more true to their point and click roots and were good. The moment The Walking Dead became a massive success, they milked that boring style into the ground, not once trying anything unique again.

[Misty Shadow 7,937]

I wasn't a fan of the direction the company was beginning to go in, feeling things about their games were beginning to grow repetitive, but this is still sad to witness happen to a company that was also a potential diamond in the rough that could've just as easily improved. The interactive story based on decisions style of their games could have been groundbreaking with some polish. I can only wish the best for their employees in their time of need.

[joanro 247]

15 hours ago, Kyoshi said:

I am going to take a different view here and say...I won't miss Telltale, at all. I personally thought that their games were hideously overrated. They were all the same, countless licensed properties made into point and click games that offered a choice system that did nothing, despite being the most heavily advertised feature. Once I realized that all of your choices are always invalidated, I stopped caring about their games. They never came up with anything unique, they just took something popular and applied the same formula of lies to each one. Then comes along a game like Life is Strange that showed that they COULD do something original with the concept, but their terrible game engine would probably explode once they tried to do anything unique. What they made barely qualified as 'games' in the first place, yet they were so dedicated to just doing the same thing over and over and over again. Obviously because they thought they hit the never ending jackpot after The Walking Dead season 1 won game of the year for 2012, which was absolute nonsense. They even tried some publishing of other games, like how they published the game 7 Days to Die on consoles. Despite the fact that the game was NOT finished on PC and the support for the console version basically died. Oh but we could play as characters from the Walking Dead Telltale Game. AWESOME. Thanks for nothing Telltale.

Now we have this mess with the final season of The Walking Dead, where it looks like they will not finish it nor will they provide refunds to owners of the season pass. I don't care how terrible their management of their money was, this is a very shitty way to go out. Oh, you became attached to Clementine and stuck with her for 6 YEARS? SORRY, you don't get to know how her story ends. SORRY. Thinking about that more, it really pisses me off. I am surprised more people are not angry about that fact.

Personally, I say good riddance to them. This does suck for the employees I guess, though they are already getting job offerings so they aren't losing much, so meh.

I think it's kind of hypocritical to criticize Telltale Games and praise Life is Strange about your choices not mattering when all your choices at the end of Life is Strange don't matter either. I love the Life is Strange series, but the ending in particular is not the strongest part of the game. In fact, it relies on one of the biggest tropes in media involving time travel. It's always that one critical moment in the timeline where they have to go back and make it right.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,651]

7 hours ago, joanro said:

I think it's kind of hypocritical to criticize Telltale Games and praise Life is Strange about your choices not mattering when all your choices at the end of Life is Strange don't matter either. I love the Life is Strange series, but the ending in particular is not the strongest part of the game. In fact, it relies on one of the biggest tropes in media involving time travel. It's always that one critical moment in the timeline where they have to go back and make it right.

Except the biggest different between those two things is simple. From what I remember, Life is Strange doesn't entirely bank on the whole 'your choices alter the story' like how Telltale did with every game from the Walking Dead onwards. They so heavily pushed this idea that the story truly does get altered by your choices, when in the end it just doesn't. I would be okay with that, if that wasn't the main thing they always advertised. The time thing in Life is Strange, yeah, it is a trope, but it is a new mechanic idea for that type of game, something different, something that Telltale would never have tried, again probably because their terrible game engine would catch fire upon trying to do so.

[Stone Cold Steve Jobs 22,441]

TWD games, in my opinion, were little more than torture porn. They wore out their welcome quickly.