Telltale Games, the developers of the critically acclaimed video game adaptation of comic book series The Walking Dead, now looks to be dead itself.
The California-based video game company released a statement on Saturday saying it had laid off most of its staff and was preparing for closure.
"Today Telltale Games made the difficult decision to begin a majority studio closure following a year marked by insurmountable challenges," it said.
Twenty-five employees will continue on to fulfil its commitments to its board and partners, only months after the company had entered into a content partnership with Netflix.
In a statement to Variety, Netflix said it was saddened by the news, but did confirm some joint projects would continue in some form.
Founded in 2004, Telltale Games gained popularity for its Tales of Monkey Island game in 2009, before adapting The Walking Dead, which received numerous Game of the Year awards and commercial success.
However, later projects like adaptations of Game of Thrones, Minecraft, Batman, and Guardians of the Galaxy, saw diminishing success, despite their high-profile source material.
The developer, which popularised an episodic choice-based type of adventure games with a distinct art-style and story focus, was set to release the final episodes of its The Walking Dead game this year. However, so far only two of a proposed four episodes have been released. Game Informer is reporting the final two episodes have been shelved.
That has created further questions about the company's future, including whether gamers who purchased a "Season Pass", giving them access to all four episodes as they released rather than needing to buy them individually, would be refunded for the episodes they may miss out on.
A planned Stranger Things game is also up in the air, with Netflix wanting to take the project forward in some "interactive medium".
Newshub.
