The sudden closure of Telltale Games left the fate of The Walking Dead game's final season in question, but according to a recent announcement, the folks at Skybound Games will be taking over the project. There are only two chapters left to finish in the series, so hopefully fans can get the closure they've been seeking for series protagonist, Clementine. Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman said as much over the weekend at New York Comic-Con, with CinemaBlend's Mike Reyes there to get the details. In Kirkman's words:
We've successfully negotiated with Telltale Games...Our company, Skybound, (will) come in and see Season Four of the Telltale game to completion. We can't lose Andrew Lincoln and Clementine in the same year.
For those unfamiliar with the Walking Dead television show by the same name, Andrew Lincoln plays the character at the center of its universe, Rick Grimes. Lincoln announced that this will be his last season on the show, though it is still vaguely unclear at this point if his character will meet an unfortunate fate or get to ride off into the sunset.
Similarly, this current season of The Walking Dead game was already set to be the last, bringing an end to Clementine's story. She started off as a child in the games, someone who needed to be protected while also being taught how to survive in a world gone mad. Over the seasons, she's grown into a strong and confident character who protects others she cares about.
When Telltale closed at the end of September, the studio laid off around 275 members of its staff. The second of the four-chapter final season of The Walking Dead dropped just a couple of days later but, at the time, it was unclear if the final two chapters would ever see the light of day. There were a heck of a lot of suddenly jobless employees to think about, too, who'd been fired from the studio without warning. A lawsuit has already been filed, claiming Telltale broke state and federal laws pertaining to notice when it comes to any mass layoff within a company of its size.
The studio's other projects, including a second season of The Wolf Among us and a first season of Stranger Things, were outright cancelled as Telltale projects, with Netflix looking into getting the horror series' game going elsewhere. A skeleton crew was kept on to finish work on Minecraft: Story Mode for Netflix, though some of those employees are also being let go.
In that regard, Kirkman's statement is kind of bittersweet for many fans of the series. Knowing that the series will see some resolution for its fictional characters is a positive, but that doesn't offer much solace when it comes to nearly 300 people losing their job. The buzz around the internet is that Skybound may be looking to bring on some members of the former Telltale team to wrap the project, but nothing has been confirmed involving staffing, or the launch timing for the final episodes of the game, at this time.
It sounds like Telltale is basically having to hand over all of their work for Skybound to pick up and run with, but again, nothing definite has been announced. Kirkman said more details will be provided at a later date. You can currently play The Walking Dead: The Final Season Episode 2 on all the available platforms.
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