Telltale Games Closure | GOG Removing Entire Catalogue on May 27th

[Dragon Lord]

Can't really say they didn't deserve that. Kind of makes me wonder if this could lead to a lawsuit chain. If this lawsuit changes the circumstances around being able to finish the final season of The Walking Dead, and they have to cancel it, it would be interesting to see if another lawsuit pops up for the people who purchased the entire season early, but never got the product they were promised.

This could potentially be the final nail in the coffin for them. To be honest, I kind of hope they get nailed hard, just because what they did to those 250-ish employees was pretty scummy.

[Moonface]

I think Telltale were already doomed, so this not only guarantees it but teaches the management a lesson for treating the company so poorly. As long as it only harms the assholes and not the innocent workers, the more they get the better.

[Maniakkid25]

Given that the innocent workers include people who had (reportedly) just finished relocating families and who had just started literally a WEEK before the closure? No, it hurt the innocent workers HARD. They ran their workers into the ground, burned down the house, and ran away, leaving the ashes for someone else to clean up. This lawsuit probably won't get settled in any way favorable to the workers.

[Monocle]

Given that the innocent workers include people who had (reportedly) just finished relocating families and who had just started literally a WEEK before the closure? No, it hurt the innocent workers HARD. They ran their workers into the ground, burned down the house, and ran away, leaving the ashes for someone else to clean up. This lawsuit probably won't get settled in any way favorable to the workers.

I see them settling and then filing bankruptcy so that the settlement really results in nothing which is ridiculously unfortunate. Telltale's upper management and board are complete pieces of shit for this and deserve more than a lawsuit.

[lp0 on fire]

Given that the innocent workers include people who had (reportedly) just finished relocating families and who had just started literally a WEEK before the closure?

Holy promissory estoppel batman!

No really that a good promissory estoppel lawsuit waiting to happen.

[Moonface]

Given that the innocent workers include people who had (reportedly) just finished relocating families and who had just started literally a WEEK before the closure? No, it hurt the innocent workers HARD. They ran their workers into the ground, burned down the house, and ran away, leaving the ashes for someone else to clean up. This lawsuit probably won't get settled in any way favorable to the workers.

I was referring more to not wanting this lawsuit to hurt the workers. They've had enough problems without being dragged into a lawsuit that was caused by pricks behind desks.

[Metallix]

Sucks that so many have lost their jobs. As far as the company goes I have never liked their games and they definitely stagnated. I always though Quantic Dream and Supermassive Games did the choose your adventure games so much better.

[Moonface]

So Skybound Games have picked up The Walking Dead to finish its final season:

Neat for those who bought the game and want to get the product they paid for, but it looks like the employees of Telltale are still left without anything.

[ShiraNoMai]

Yeah this is probably going to end up as "hey we hired them to just finish this job, but after this, haha good luck in the job search!" Which is still really shitty.

[Moonface]

I doubt they'll get a lot of former employees agree to work on this without the compensation they should've already received. Then there's those who will have already got work elsewhere to be free to help out. But if any former employee agrees to help without getting everything they deserved, I'm hoping the only reason is desperation for work of some kind.

[Amalthea]

I wasn't really too fussed when I heard the news... A little disappointed that we wouldn't get to see more of The Wolf Among Us, but I started losing interest in many of the games including The Walking Dead. I'm pretty sure I didn't even bother to finish one of the seasons and haven't played any of it since. I am glad that it was picked up to be finished for those who are still playing it though!

[Moonface]

So it looks like Epic is funding development for the remainder of The Walking Dead:

All future episodes of “Telltale’s The Walking Dead” on PC will be published on the Epic Games Store, Skybound Games announced Thursday. People who already bought the season on a different PC platform will still receive the final two episodes through their previous point of purchase.

The third episode of “Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season,” entitled Broken Toys, is set for a Jan. 15 release on Epic’s new online game store. Epic Games Store will also be host to the previous episodes of the season for those who want to buy it as well. The game will hit consoles on Jan. 15 as well.

We’re excited to work together on their latest transformative event with the launch of the Epic Games Store. Epic stepped up to the plate immediately to work with us in order to bring the original team back together and ensure fans will receive the completed season of ‘Telltale’s The Walking Dead: The Final Season.'

[Moonface]

Entire Telltale Games Catalogue Being Delisted from GOG.com
It seems that any games made by Telltale Games are starting to be removed from digital stores, as GOG have announced they will be pulling the companies entire catalogue on May 27th. Of course, this may not translate to other digital storefronts, but considering this announcement comes after Tales from the Borderlands was removed from Steam yesterday without so much as a warning or announcement from Gearbox, it may be best to be safe than sorry and grab any games from Telltale's catalogue while you still can.

Sadly, we need to inform you that, due to company’s closure, all the remaining Telltale titles will be delisted from our catalog on Monday, May 27, 10am UTC. 

The titles are as follows: the Wolf Among Us, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Hector: Badge of Carnage, the Batman series, Sam & Max series, Puzzle Agent series, Tales from the Borderlands, and Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People. 

For everyone who purchased any of said titles prior to delisting, the games will remain in their GOG library.

[ShiraNoMai]

This is sad. Because they self-published, no one but them owns the properties, so if they go under, their games basically cease to exist, legally. It's like if a musician died and took their rights to their music with them to the grave. I hope someone thinks of picking up the publishing rights to these games, but it's so hard because like all of their properties are licensed, so not only does a company have to buy the rights to the games, but the properties they're based off of

[Moonface]

If not for the licenses, their games could maybe end up like other games like Re-Volt where the developer and publisher both died off, the rights no longer belonged to anyone, and so the game can be picked up for free online legally and even turned into an open-source software. I would however argue that if any owner of the properties makes no attempt to secure any distribution rights to their respective games, that it should be free to download it from online sources because you're not taking revenue away from anyone. Similar to how downloading music from asian territories that isn't made available in the west should be fair game because if you're not selling it to me in the first place, then I'm not taking revenue from you by downloading it for free.