USGamer reports based on its anonymous sources that the company won’t even finish The Walking Dead, and the rest of the crew (a 25-people skeleton team) would complete Minecraft Story Mode instead.

The whole scenario started out on Twitter as a rumour – one of the people who seemed to know more was a journalist for multiple publications by the name of Joe Parlock. He revealed some details before Telltale issued their statement. He claims that the company effectively has gone bankrupt and that they barely got through this Spring as the Netflix deal fell apart. Also, the publishing arm of the company (and thus, Stranded Deep and 7 Days to Die) also might have the sword of Damocles above it. „Only Minecraft: Story Mode and 7 Days to Die were making a profit. The rest was investor money and the Netflix deal, which dried up. According to the source, Batman tanked and was one of the worst commercial failures for Telltale. Only the first season of The Walking Dead made money. Everything between that and Minecraft was a financial failure – Wolf, everything post-Season 1 of TWD, Borderlands, Game of Thrones. All failures. […] Nobody’s getting severance pay. […] About the Lionsgate deal: there was never really a “deal” like there was with Netflix, they were just investors. Telltale burned through that money,” Parlock says.

Following these tweets, Telltale‘s statement came: „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 the fulfil 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.”

Kevin Bruner, Telltale‘s former CEO, has also responded: „[…] We pursued projects that no one else would consider. The Walking Dead, Tales from the Borderlands, The Wolf Among Us, Batman, Minecraft, Puzzle Agent, Poker Night and Sam & Max are the kind of projects I loved, and I poured my heart and soul into each one. Those are the kind of projects no other publisher or studio would touch. We chose to venture where others dared not go, and we found some success along the way. It took a lot of vision, luck, willpower, teamwork, talent, and very long days and nights to get there, but it will forever have been worth it.

And we did it all while growing, attracting some of the most talented people I’ve ever known. We were equally passionate about making sure our employees always had a home. Before my leaving, we were able to avoid sweeping layoffs and (somehow) managed to ensure that we ever had worked for everyone. We worked hard, and sometimes it seemed like we had more than we could handle, but we stuck together and forged ahead.

Today, I’m mostly saddened for the people who are losing their jobs at a studio they love. And I’m also saddened at the loss of a studio that green-lit crazy ideas that no one else would consider. […]”

If the rumours about Telltale finishing Minecraft: Story Mode instead of The Walking Dead: The Final Season is true, it might bring two issues. One, the PlayStation Store sells TWD’s fourth season as a Season Pass, and Skybound (Robert Kirkman’s company – he’s the creator of the IP!) might also disapprove if they suddenly quit Clementine’s story. Remember; Clem has three episodes remaining, one of which is supposed to launch on Tuesday, and if Telltale drops the ball, selling the game on the PS Store as a Season Pass would be false advertising, possibly resulting in a class-action lawsuit. Also, Skybound might also take Telltale to court for not finishing the series properly.

We should wait for more updates… but still, it seems we have to say goodbye to the second season of The Wolf Among Us, as well as Stranger Things…

Source: USGamer, Twitter, Twitter, Bruner House