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All Articles: The Walking Dead: The Final Season
Skybound will launch Episode 3 of The Walking Dead: The Final Season on January 15
There’s not much that’s funny about an undead apocalypse (unless Bill Murray or Simon Pegg is involved, I suppose), but Skybound Games took the stage during the Kinda Funny Games Showcase earlier today and announced a release date for The Walking Dead: The Final Season – Episode 3: Broken Toys anyway.
According to the developer (and the semi-new trailer embedded above), Episode 3: Broken Toys will be available to download for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One on January 15.
In addition to completing work on The Final Season after Telltale’s unexpected closure, Skybound also announced that they’ve restored previous seasons of The Walking Dead to the digital storefronts for the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
Development on The Walking Dead: The Final Season resumes at Skybound Games
The reverberations from the closure of Telltale Games back in September are still being felt throughout the game industry. In one corner, you had discussions about a company’s responsibility to its employees after former Telltalers confirmed that they received little to no warning about the studio closure ahead of the announcement. And on the other hand, you had conversations about a company’s responsibility to its fans after the apparent cancellation of The Walking Dead: The Final Season.
Earlier today, one of those questions was publicly answered by Skybound Games, the interactive division of The Walking Dead comic creator Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment.
According to a new post on Skybound’s official website, development on The Walking Dead: The Final Season has resumed thanks to the efforts of part of the original team from Telltale:
After Telltale shut its doors, the game was, unfortunately, unable to be worked on and hence the release dates of Episodes 3 and 4 have been delayed. But, we’re excited to let you know that many of the talented, passionate team members who originally worked on the game are resuming development efforts today!
The first two episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season were released this Summer for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. Release dates for Episode 3: Broken Toys and Episode 4: Take Us Back will be announced “soon.”
Skybound Games reaches deal with Telltale to complete The Walking Dead: The Final Season
We still don’t know what will happen to the hundreds of employees that Telltale Games unceremoniously let go as part of their “majority studio closure” on September 21, but thanks to an agreement with an outside developer, it looks like development on The Walking Dead: The Final Season will be completed.
Skybound Games, the video game division of The Walking Dead author Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment, announced that they’ve reached a deal with Telltale to finish the final two episodes of The Final Season:
We’re SO happy to announce that we’ve reached a deal with @telltalegames that will allow Skybound to continue #TheWalkingDead: The Final Season! Let’s wrap up Clem’s story right! More details to come soon. pic.twitter.com/ShyREw65iq
— Skybound Games (@skyboundgames) October 7, 2018
According to Variety, Skybound plans to rehire “members of the original Telltale team to finish the story,” but nothing is official as of yet. More details about Skybound’s involvement with The Walking Dead: The Final Season will be announced at a later date.
Telltale is “working towards a solution” to release the final two episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season
The shocking announcement of a “majority studio closure” for Telltale Games came as a surprise to everyone on Friday… and that includes Telltale’s employees, who were unceremoniously escorted from the their desks without any notice. Company executives also canceled all of their in-development projects except for a version of Minecraft: Story Mode that would be playable on Netflix through their app.
Those same executives have yet to address why the “majority studio closure” was announced in this way, but late last night, they confirmed that they’re “actively working towards a solution” to release the final two episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season:
— Telltale Games (@telltalegames) September 24, 2018
It’s important to note that even if the developer is somehow able to restart development on the game, it won’t be the same. The entire “Walking Dead” team was let go on Friday, so the final two episodes would end up being someone else’s vision for how Clementine’s story should end.
The Walking Dead: The Final Season will likely never be completed as Telltale Games institutes a “majority studio closure”
A series of social media posts from recently laid-off developers lead many to believe that Telltale Games was shutting down yesterday morning, but the lights will remain on for now according to an official statement from the company’s executives.
Writing on Twitter, Telltale CEO Pete Hawley confirmed that a majority of the company’s employees would be let go:
“It’s been an incredibly difficult year for Telltale as we worked to set the company on a new course. Unfortunately, we ran out of time trying to get there. We released some of our best content this year and received a tremendous amount of positive feedback, but ultimately, that did not translate to sales. With a heavy heart, we watch our friends leave today to spread our brand of storytelling across the games industry.”
Hawley would go on to say that “further comments regarding [Telltale’s] product portfolio [will be announced] in the coming weeks,” but sources within the company told USgamer that the majority of their in-development projects have been canceled.
The Walking Dead: The Final Season‘s second episode, Suffer the Children, will launch next week as originally planned, but the remaining two episodes will likely go unfinished, marking an abrupt end for the season and the franchise. A further list of cancellations includes Game of Thrones Season 2, The Wolf Among Us Season 2, and the recently-announced Stranger Things game.
The 25 employees still under Telltale’s employ will stay on to complete the Netflix-powered port of Minecraft: Story Mode, but it is currently unknown what will happen to them after that.
It’s our hope that all of Telltale’s former employees will be able to quickly find better employment opportunities in the future.
The Walking Dead: The Final Season, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Next Up Hero, more coming to Nintendo eShop this week
Telltale Games was widely expected to bring The Walking Dead: The Final Season to the Switch sometime later this year, but there it is, front and center in this week’s Nintendo eShop update, just two days after its PC, PS4, and Xbox One debut. Switch owners will be able to experience the first episode of Clementines final journey, as she searches for a home for her and AJ.
Also available to download for the Switch today is Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Steel Crate Games’s bomb defusal party game. One player sits down in front of a ticking time bomb, while the other players talk them through it (without looking at the bomb) with the use of the game’s Bomb Defusal Manual.
Finally this week, Switch owners will get the chance to purchase Next Up Hero, a massively multiplayer brawler from Digital Continue where every time you die you get a little closer to defeating the boss.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the Nintendo eShop (including Metal Slug 4, CastleStorm, Manual Samuel, and more) after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Switch
Tagged Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Next Up Hero, The Walking Dead: The Final Season
The Walking Dead: The Final Season, Graveyard Keeper, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, more coming to Xbox Store this week
The dead and the undead make this a rather somber week for the Xbox Games Store. Thankfully, there’s a bomb defusal party game thrown in to lighten the mood.
Telltale Games will bring players back to the world of The Walking Dead, as they follow Clementine on the final leg of her journey in the first episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season for the Xbox One. Continuing the dead bodies theme this week is Lazy Bear’s Graveyard Keeper, a medieval cemetery management simulation for the Xbox One.
Finally this week, if you’d prefer to remain among the living, you should heed the rules of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes… that’s the only way to win in Steel Crate’s bomb defusal party game for the Xbox One.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the Xbox Games Store after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, Xbox One
Tagged Graveyard Keeper, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, The Walking Dead: The Final Season
The Walking Dead: The Final Season, Death’s Gambit, Phantom Doctrine, more coming to PS Store this week
Sony has revealed this week’s PlayStation Store update, and it’s the typical blend of late-Summer weirdness and big franchises trying to sneak in before the Fall’s big rush.
Telltale Games is leading things off with the first episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season, the final entry in Clementine’s journey, for the PS4. Players have stuck with the character through three games, and now they’ll finally see if she can find a place to call home.
Also available to download this week for the PS4 is Death’s Gambit, a brutal side-scrolling platformer from Adult Swim Games. Rather than avoiding the undead, players will become an agent of Death and attempt to unravel the mystery of Siradon.
Finally this week, PS4 owners will be able to purchase Phantom Doctrine, a tactics-style RPG that takes place during the Cold War.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the PlayStation Store (including Guns, Gore, & Cannoli 2, State of Mind, and Super Night Riders) after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged The Walking Dead: The Final Season