Telltale Games, a popular video game developing company, announced on Sept. 21 that it would be firing a majority of its employees and that, once all affairs were wrapped up, it would cease any continuing development of games. While video game and storytelling fans alike were disappointed, many issues arose due to the sudden and shocking announcement.

The first of these issues is the state of the games that were in development. Telltale released its story-driven games by episode, with each episode driving the plot forward. For a $20 “season pass,” each of the episodes would be available for download as soon as they were released. However, since Telltale has since shut down, it is unable to provide the games that it promised fans. Most notably, episode two of “The Walking Dead Game: The Final Season” had just been released. In any given season, there are five to six episodes released. In a franchise that fans, writers and creators alike had poured countless hours into, Telltale was unable to provide a round conclusion that it had both promised and sold.

Those who purchased the game may end up empty-handed, though those who are still working at Telltale are hopeful that a more financially stable company may provide funding to finish the game. This only raises more problems, however, as all of the employees who once worked for Telltale, the ones who poured their hearts into “The Walking Dead Game” franchise, will most likely not be the ones completing it. Some of the other games that were loved by fans, such as “The Wolf Among Us” and “Tales from the Borderlands,” will not be renewed for another season. “The Wolf Among Us” was already in development and has since been abandoned, unless another company purchases the rights. At this time, no season passes are being sold.

Putting the video game aspect aside, Telltale firing its employees has raised lawsuits. In California, where Telltale is based, companies are obligated to provide a reason and advanced, written notice to employees before firing them under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification act. Telltale instead gave their hard-working employees 30 minutes to exit the building. Even more, none of the employees were offered severance benefits. According to employees following their termination, many of them worked 18-hour days at the Telltale office, struggling to meet deadlines. At this point, it is unclear if employees plan on bringing the treatment they received while working into the current lawsuit.

While to many fans, this closing of the franchise may come as a surprise, it was not a surprise to Telltale CEO, Pete Hawley. When asked about the state of the company in December 2017, Hawley insisted that it was in good financial condition. As recently as Sept. 20, Telltale did not announce that it was in bad financial condition, claiming that it was talking about partnering with larger companies. The following day, 250 Telltale employees were fired.

Telltale Games was revolutionary for the video gaming industry. Along with the games previously mentioned, Telltale created a “Game of Thrones” game, a “Minecraft” series, a “Batman” series and a “Guardians of the Galaxy” game. These games combined intricate stories, tough decision-making and entertaining puzzles into one of the only modern video games that is accessible to so many people, regardless of skill level. While many games have followed suit since, like “Life is Strange” and “Life is Strange 2: Before the Storm” by developers Dontnod Entertainment and Feral Interactive, few games have had so many options and decisions that would actually matter later on. The gaming industry before Telltale Games always hyper-focused on what games played the most fun, such as “Halo” or “Modern Warfare.” However, Telltale allowed for games like “Until Dawn,” “Spider-Man” and “Detroit: Become Human” to not only be feasible to sell, but also offer something they knew gamers would enjoy.

At this point, Telltale has not yet filed for bankruptcy and has not paid anything to its employees past their final paycheck.

Image from Telltale Games via YouTube.com.