The end to the final season of the former Telltale Game’s the Walking Dead series is right around the corner, with a now confirmed release date of its fourth and final episode on March 26th, 2019.
As first reported by DualShockers, the episode titled “Take Us Back” now lists a specific release date of March 26th, 2019 on the game’s episode selection page. While Skybound Games, who officially took over production of the final episodes in the series following Telltale’s closure, has yet to officially announce the game themselves. Yet, it doesn’t look like fans will have to wait long to experience not only the end of the season, but the conclusion to Clementine’s overall story as well.
The original season of Telltale’s the Walking Dead first released in April 2012 to critical acclaim and commercial success, claiming multiple Game of the Year nominations and awards in the process. Many could argue that the success of Telltale’s the Walking Dead helped catapult the graphic adventure genre into mainstream popularity, with many studios following the formula after. Due to the unfortunate financial events last September, Telltale Studios was forced to suffer a major studio closure after their last investor pulled out of funding the studio. Over 250 employees were let go from the studio, with only 25 remaining to finish previous obligations including a port of Minecraft: Story Mode to Netflix.
The first three chapters of the Walking Dead’s Final Season are available now on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
The recent saga behind Telltale’s majority studio closure is one that is unfortunately on a multitude of layers. While the most unfortunate issue to come out the closure is the 225 employees who were let go from the studio, fans are sad to see many of their favorite series all but disappear into the dark abyss as well. One fan-favorite series that was set to make a second season return was The Wolf Among Us, the critically-acclaimed adaptation of Bill Willingham’s Fables series. The first season, which began it’s wave of episodic releases in October 2013, was praised for its strong narrative focus along with its unique setting and diverse cast of fairy tale characters.
Since its final episodic release in July 2014, fans had been clamoring to return to the town of Fabletown to continue Bigby Wolf’s story, and it looked like their wish might have been granted. In July 2017, the staff at Telltale Games released a announcement trailer stating that a second season to the cult-followed series has entered production, aiming for a 2018 release date, though that date would be bumped into 2019 due to ‘internal studio issue’. These issues then came to light when the studio closer began in September 2018, officially cancelling all projects Telltale currently had in production.
With the studio having over a year of production under their belt on the project, many fans possibly thought the series could see the same treatment The Walking Dead‘s final season saw with production being picked up by Skybound Games. Unfortunately, the status on season two was much bleaker than many expected it to be. In a recent deep-dive piece on Telltale Game’s final year by EuroGamer, it was discovered that not only had the project barely gotten underway, but the team tackling it was extremely small with a ‘shoe-string budget, even by Telltale standards’.
“Everyone knew Wolf 1 was a critical success, but not a commercial one”, an ex-staff member on the project’s development team told EuroGamer. “I think people came into it realizing they were making a boutique product. At one point, the season was going to be three episode.” The site also discovered that proper development for the second season of the Fables-inspired series didn’t begin until the summer of 2017, not long before their July announcement trailer released. While many public figures within the company stood by their original 2018 release window and the affirmative attitude on the series’s return, much of the team internally doubted the project’s long-term legitimacy. A source told EuroGamer “Even when the marketing team recorded the Wolf 2 announcement trailer, many people within the studio doubted it would ever see the light of day.”
The deep-dive digs a bit deeper to confirm many beliefs within the industry since the fall of Telltale games: the game had truly never left early development. One artist on the project explained “It was so early on (in development) that we didn’t have much apart from some concept art and a bit of white boxing for gameplay prototyping.” While the dark development of the game left a scar on many who were associated, it does seem that an overview of the season, and the majority of the first episodes scripted were complete; stating the game wasn’t going to be a direct sequel, but it would follow the events of Bigby and Snow White chronologically after the first season’s events.
While it doesn’t look like we will be seeing Bigby Wolf return to our screens in a new entry to the series, it will be interesting to see what happens to many of the intellectual properties that Telltale owned as they begin liquidating many of their assets. If we are lucky, maybe we will see the abrasive Big Bad Wolf make his return one day. In the meantime, the first season of The Wolf Among Us is still available for purchase on all major platforms.
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The ongoing financial saga with Telltale Games may have finally reached its end, and unfortunately it doesn’t look to be a happy one.
As reported by GameDaily.biz’s Mike Futter, Telltale Games has begun the assignment proceeding to settle the company’s affairs. Sherwood Partners, a business advisory firm with a foot hole in Santa Clara, CA, will be handling the process and has already initiated conversations with all who would have a claim on the developer’s assets.
While having similarities, assignment is a different method of closing a company comparative to filing for bankruptcy. For one, the process is usually quicker in terms of the speed in which the transaction happens. Attorney and founder of Odin Law & Media, Brandon Huffman mentioned that a company can go out of business without going bankrupt, when speaking to Futter. “All that means is that they (Telltale Games in this instance) was able to find someone to give them enough money for assets to pay any creditor or they had the money on hand.”
Gamers will now begin to see the issues the company is facing first hand now, as some of the digital versions of their title have been taken down from various storefronts. Steam, one of the most popular store fronts for PC gaming, has currently seen the removal of several Telltale Games titles, including Back to the Future and Tales of Monkey Island. While these may be at the cost of their licensing agreement, at the same time, Telltale’s Game of Thrones and the Walking Dead series still remain available for purchase.
This past September, Telltale Games announced a majority studio closure after failing to meet the financial challenges the company faced over the past few years. Over 250 were released from their positions, with a small team of 25 remaining on board to finish small portions of the final season of the Walking Dead. Since then, publisher/developer Skybound Games has taken over the process of finishing the said final season, with active development resuming towards the end of the year.
For more updates on the financial saga of Telltale Games, and the inevitable loss of more games from store fronts, follow us on Twitter at @BonusAccessory, and keep it locked in on Bonus Accessory.
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