Telltale Games is shutting down

[Rahdulan]

Do we know where Kirkbride's been recently?

 

[Blackthorne]

It's funny.... Telltale was a "successful" adventure game company, and they couldn't even make a go of it. I don't feel so bad now.

 

[HoboForEternity]

"Successful" has its price. Especially when i your games are a 1 hit wonder/fad.

I think they would have been fine if they dont get greedy and become the bloated mess the company is. Seriously, 260 people. Thats like bethesda size studio for a dev that just make interactive movie.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Telltale was a "successful" adventure game company

I think you put the wrong word into quotation marks in that sentence, Bt.

 

[taxalot]

 

[fantadomat]

No wonder they went bankrupt.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Which reminds me, ttg stopped being good after they stopped putting banang reference into the game, most likely indicating whoever talent that put the banang in left at soem point or didnt get involved

 

[Infinitron]

lul

 

[fantadomat]

I agree with that post! Communists should work for free in the name of inclusion and progressivism!

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

I recently replayed through the first two seasons of Sam and Max, and you know what? They're pretty damn good. They're way too easy, Sam feels like he's constantly walking through molasses, and the episodic nature clearly caused them to reuse (and reuse, and reuse, and reuse) an uneven supporting cast, but they're pretty damn funny (and pretty Purcellian in their depiction of S&M) at parts. Can't comment on anything else TTG put out, because I prefer playing adventure games, but the S&M games were not bad at all.

 

[Nope]

All I want out of this is for it to be a wake-up call for Daedalic.

 

[karoliner]

https://gematsu.com/2018/09/telltal...mpletion-of-the-walking-dead-the-final-season

Telltale Games suggests potential completion of The Walking Dead – The Final Season
"Multiple potential partners have stepped forward."

Telltale Games, which was recently shuttered and and all of its in-development game projects reported cancelled, has released a statement suggesting the potential completion of The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series – The Final Season.
Find the statement below.

Hi everyone, we have a Walking Dead update for you. Multiple potential partners have stepped forward to express interest in helping see The Final Season through to completion. While we can’t make any promises today, we are actively working towards a solution that will allow episodes 3 and 4 to be completed and released in some form. In the meantime, episode 2 will release across all platforms as planned. We hope to have answers for your other questions soon.​

 

[Don Peste]

Thanks, THQ!

 

[Eyestabber]

https://gematsu.com/2018/09/telltal...mpletion-of-the-walking-dead-the-final-season

Telltale Games suggests potential completion of The Walking Dead – The Final Season
"Multiple potential partners have stepped forward."

Telltale Games, which was recently shuttered and and all of its in-development game projects reported cancelled, has released a statement suggesting the potential completion of The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series – The Final Season.
Find the statement below.

Hi everyone, we have a Walking Dead update for you. Multiple potential partners have stepped forward to express interest in helping see The Final Season through to completion. While we can’t make any promises today, we are actively working towards a solution that will allow episodes 3 and 4 to be completed and released in some form. In the meantime, episode 2 will release across all platforms as planned. We hope to have answers for your other questions soon.​

OH COME ON! I know consumers getting scammed and not getting the product they paid for is a bad thing, but OTOH the alternative is having ANOTHER Telltale "Game" unleashed upon the world.

Guise, COME ON. You know "scam" is the lesser evil here.

 

[Mustawd]

How does it work when a company shuts down but its games are still on sale? If noone else picks up the IP, where do the profits of defunct companies go if there is not reciever and administration left?

I don't think it's confirmed that the company has gone bankrupt. In theory the owners could shut down the studio and continue to earn money from the back catalog (like what Herve does with Interplay's games)

There’s nothing that says going bankrupt dissolves a company. It can exist as a shell, basically collecting revenues and doing minimal administrative work. IIRC the legal entity of accounting firm Arthur Andersen existed for years, technically, as some kind of lodge.

However, typically fully dissolving a company takes time. It’ll go to bankruptcy court, assets, includong IP, will be sold, and resulting revenues allocated to creditors (if any), shareholders and employee benefits (if any are applicable). So typically the IP gets handed off at some point.

 

[Modron]

There’s nothing that says going bankrupt dissolves a company. It can exist as a shell, basically collecting revenues and doing minimal administrative work. IIRC the legal entity of accounting firm Arthur Andersen existed for years, technically, as some kind of lodge.

However, typically fully dissolving a company takes time. It’ll go to bankruptcy court, assets, includong IP, will be sold, and resulting revenues allocated to creditors (if any), shareholders and employee benefits (if any are applicable). So typically the IP gets handed off at some point.

Didn't only like 5 people finish the last chapter of Tales from the Borderlands? I mean they could probably can 98% of their staff and still make the final chapter in the Walking Dead and a profit.

 

[Mustawd]

How can a company let go 250 people from one day to another without severance, without healthcare is beyond me. Oh, wait, they live in the USA, the best country in the world.

Of course, blame the company, not the incompetence of the people involved. They knew what they were in, knew the conditions they have, they decided it suits them. Cry me a river now.

What? Of course it is the company's fault (and I mean the management). Who the hell's fault this would be? You are dumb.

A. In California laid off employees are entitled to 60 days notice. In lieu of this, many companies provide 60 days salary on the day of employee termination.

B. Not sure if it’s required but many companies in the SF Bay area provide Cobra insurance for the sixty day period. The catch is that Cobra is usually a much more inferior prodct than what you normally had as an employee.

C. J_C I moatly agree with you, but part of Telltale’s issues are structural to their business model in general. A lot has already been mentioned. The fact that the initial games are very popular due to novelty, but subsequent offerings become less and less popular rings very true to me.

However, I’d also tie some of their struggles to their episodic sales model. There are a couple of big weaknesses I’d say are big reasons why we won’t see this model repeated.

Ca.) The episodic nature of their games almost requires the same presentation and graphics over time. As has shown time and time again, and clearly seen in the codex’s Vogel threads, most fans expect innovation over time and dislike stagnation/sameness. If their games were traditional offerings it would feel more natural to drastically change how games play, look and feel. But if you use one engine in episodes 1-3 and then change it for episodes 6-12, it’d feel weird and unnatural.

Cb.) Releasing games as episodes creates an interesting type of operational leverage. TL;DR, operational leverage is basically making decisions to your operations where if your decisionnis good your results increaee a crapton. But the opposite is true. In Telltale’s case, they tied themselves to their IPs for a very extended period of time. Consequently, this also ties their long term success to the popularity and success of their IPs.

The Walking Dead released during a time where popularity peaked. But over time this popularity faded, impacting the demand for their flagship franchise. Had WD stayed or become even more popular they would have benefited even more than if they had just released one game at a discrete point in time. Unfortunately for them, the opposite happened.

Outside some drastic changes, their business model was simply destine to slowly peter out unless they kept finding hits of the IPs they licensed. Of course, they did not.

 

[Mustawd]

There’s nothing that says going bankrupt dissolves a company. It can exist as a shell, basically collecting revenues and doing minimal administrative work. IIRC the legal entity of accounting firm Arthur Andersen existed for years, technically, as some kind of lodge.

However, typically fully dissolving a company takes time. It’ll go to bankruptcy court, assets, includong IP, will be sold, and resulting revenues allocated to creditors (if any), shareholders and employee benefits (if any are applicable). So typically the IP gets handed off at some point.

Didn't only like 5 people finish the last chapter of Tales from the Borderlands? I mean they could probably can 98% of their staff and still make the final chapter in the Walking Dead and a profit.

Yes but you still need to consider non employee costs such as licensing fees (many contracts require quarterly or yearly installments. Some contracts even backload large payments. So you might pay 100k for 2-3 years and uear 4 you pay $1 million). Also, you have to pay voice actors, which I assume aren’t in the payroll. In addition, you have typical marketing/sales costs with any video game release. Finally, they might have creditors to pay, which became harder and harder to do. Typically companies in financial stress delay or stop paying their financial obligations altogether in an attempt to stay solvent. We simply don’t know how precarious their financial situation is without access to their financials.

 

[Boleskine]

All I want out of this is for it to be a wake-up call for Daedalic.

That ship already sailed. The Devil's Men is dead and Daedalic has been moving away from puzzles for 1-2 years.

The Pillars of the Earth reviewed quite well so all Daedalic may push hard to fill the void left by Telltale, if they can secure an IP that is more popular outside of Europe.

 

[Black]

Where did all my fucks go

 

[LESS T_T]

https://gematsu.com/2018/09/telltal...mpletion-of-the-walking-dead-the-final-season

Telltale Games suggests potential completion of The Walking Dead – The Final Season
"Multiple potential partners have stepped forward."

Telltale Games, which was recently shuttered and and all of its in-development game projects reported cancelled, has released a statement suggesting the potential completion of The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series – The Final Season.
Find the statement below.

Hi everyone, we have a Walking Dead update for you. Multiple potential partners have stepped forward to express interest in helping see The Final Season through to completion. While we can’t make any promises today, we are actively working towards a solution that will allow episodes 3 and 4 to be completed and released in some form. In the meantime, episode 2 will release across all platforms as planned. We hope to have answers for your other questions soon.​

Probably Skybound Entertainment, the company behind the original Walking Dead comics? They have video game division and published console versions of The Long Dark and Slime Rancher.

(Also maybe THQ Nordic and Fig.)

 

[Blackthorne]

I think you put the wrong word into quotation marks in that sentence, Bt.

I heartily approve of this post.

I am upset and sad for the 260 workers that got done dry with no lube, but the schadenfreude in me is chuckling a bit that Telltale closed.

 

[Mustawd]

I think you put the wrong word into quotation marks in that sentence, Bt.

I heartily approve of this post.

I am upset and sad for the 260 workers that got done dry with no lube, but the schadenfreude in me is chuckling a bit that Telltale closed.

I wouldn’t say 60 days pay is “no lube”. Plus they get unemployment benefits.

Employees who were entitled to notice but did not receive it may generally recover pay and benefits for the period during which notice was not given, to a maximum of 60 days. Employers that do not provide required notice may also be liable for fines and penalties under both federal and state law, plus attorneys' fees for the employees who sue to collect wages, benefits, and penalties.

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandto...ghtful-terminations-in-california-part-3.aspx

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/hr-qa/pages/californiawarnnotices.aspx



Oh, and accrued sick leave.

https://www.employmentlawfirms.com/...rnia-labor-law-vacation-pay-must-compensated-

 

[Blackthorne]

Heh, I was being hyperbolic. It's a little lube, okay! haha.

 

[Mustawd]

Heh, I was being hyperbolic. It's a little lube, okay! haha.

That’s what she said...


Layoffs blow. Don’t get me wrong. But it could be worse for them. Imagine being laid off in Alabama. Gross.