Background

Emily Grace Buck was the lead designer at Telltale Games. She worked on some of the studio’s most popular titles, Batman: The Telltale Series, Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series, and their latest game, The Walking Dead: The Final Season. This was the fourth main installment in their Walking Dead series and was meant to be the end. Episode two of the series was set to release on September 25 but days before its release, the majority of the studio was laid off.

Telltale Games co-founder, Dan Connors confirmed the closure was due to investors backing out. “Unfortunately, when the last potential financial backer abruptly pulled out, we were left in a position where we had no choice but to stop production. Sadly, everyone was so focused on doing what was required to keep the company going that when the last potential partner backed out, there were no other options.”

The Studio Closure

According to Kotaku, ex-employees were surprised when the announcement was made at a staff-wide meeting. The head of human resources told the staff there would be no severance. Sources told Kotaku their Google accounts had already been disabled after the meeting, and they were given 30 minutes to exit the building. Employees knew the company’s future was questionable but they didn’t expect it to close when they were about to release episode two of a four-part episodic series.

Ex-employees of Telltale Games took to twitter to express their concerns over the closure. Character artist, Brandon Cebenka emphasized, “None of my sleepless nights or long hours on weekends trying to ship a game on time got me severance today. Don’t work overtime unless you’re paid for it, y’all. Protect your health. Companies don’t care about you.” Cinematic artist, Scott Hammack commented, “I wish I'd at least taken some damn vacation time recently. All I want right now is to REST for a couple of days. But since we got no severance and our insurance expires at the end of the month, I don't have that luxury.”

Buck was vocal on Twitter about the working conditions she and fellow employees had while working at Telltale Games. “Yes, it’s true we usually worked 50+ hr weeks. Sometimes 70-80. Weekends were often expected.” It’s no surprise the majority of employees were left feeling bitter. They were committed to finishing the game for fans, hitting their deadline by working past 40 hour weeks, and they got nothing. She insisted, “The team did awesome work, pushed boundaries, and I want you to see it! Send us off on a high note! But I’m not gonna tell you to buy it.”

How We Talk About Game Studios Closing

As this was only episode two of four, some fans voiced concerns about their game. When would they get the game they paid for? Wired did a piece looking at studio closures. They pointed out two kinds of responses, sympathy from within the video game industry, and fans who want nothing more than their games. It’s a reminder that it is not all fun and games. These are real people working on projects like any other job. They have no idea if the finished game will be loved or hated by fans. They make games to the best of their abilities. Fans shouldn’t feel entitled, it ignores the abuse developers go through. Wired made a great point of stating if fans care about video games, they should care more about the people making the games than the games themselves.

Conclusion

Although it doesn’t undo the conditions these people had to work through, they will be able to conclude the story they set out to finish with this last entry. Telltale announced it was looking for another company to hire its staff to finish production. “We’re currently still working to find a way to hand off production of episodes three and four so that the season can be completed.” There is no certainty who will return from the over 250 staff they had prior to the closure.

It is fitting, The Walking Dead series creator, Robert Kirkman has stepped in to help release The Final Season. Kirkman’s Skybound Games will take over production, and Kirkman hoped to work with the original developers to finish their game. He announced, “We’ve successfully negotiated with Telltale Games for our company Skybound to come in and see Season 4 of the Telltale game to completion.” Kirkman added, “We can’t lose Andrew Lincoln and Clementine in the same year,” referring to Lincoln leaving the TV show, and Clementine, The Final Season’s protagonist.

Thank You

To all former Telltale Games employees, thank you for devoting your time to making great games. I’ve only played the first Walking Dead game, but it got me interested in their other titles. I went through everything on The Wolf Among Us. Because of this game, I found out about the The Wolf Among Us comic and its world. I’ve been looking forward to playing their Back to the Future and Batman games. I would like to get through the whole Walking Dead story and see how Clementine’s journey ends.