Telltale Ganes

Following reports that Telltale Games has laid off the majority of its staff, CNET has confirmed that the storied video game studio is planning to close its doors for good, with only a skeleton crew of 25 remaining to "fulfill the company's obligations to its board and partners."

Known for pioneering episodic games where the choices you'd make in one episode would carry on to the next -- most prominently The Walking Dead, Batman, Minecraft Story Mode and The Wolf Among Us -- the studio attracted big brands like Game of Thrones, Back to the Future and Guardians of the Galaxy with the same formula. It was working on a Stranger Things game for Netflix before Telltale's collapse. (Netflix said it's figuring out what to do about that now.)

In 2012, CNET praised The Walking Dead game for an "interactive storytelling experience that other zombie games can only dream of delivering."

The Walking Dead game continued with three full seasons (and a Michonne spinoff) in the years since, but it looks like its just-commenced final season will be cut short.

Melissa Hutchinson, who is the voice of long-term survivor Clementine, tweeted a statement over the weekend, as previously reported by Nintendo Life.

"I, unfortunately, like most of you, do not have the details on how this all came to be and I also do not know the fate of the final season of TWD," the actor wrote. "To my knowledge, they will release Episode 2 and then that will be it. It hurts me that you, the fans, will not get to see Clem's journey through to the end."

Hello friends. I am so very deeply moved by the messages of love that I, and the folks from @telltalegames have been receiving. Yesterday was one of the toughest days ever. A lot of hearts were broken, including mine. Please read the attached. #TelltaleJobs #Clementine #TWD pic.twitter.com/Fb68z86j8e — Melissa Hutchison (@Melyhutch) September 22, 2018

The first episode of the game's final season was released Aug. 14 and the second is out on Tuesday. The episodes weren't sold separately; they were only available as part of the season pass, so fans paid upfront for the season in its entirety.

Telltale didn't immediately respond to request for comment.

Hutchinson also noted that The Wolf Among Us won't get its previously announced second season.

"It hurts to know that long-awaited titles like a second season of The Wolf Among Us won't be made," she wrote.

Here's the statement Telltale Games provided Friday:

Today Telltale Games made the difficult decision to begin a majority studio closure following a year marked by insurmountable challenges. A majority of the company's employees were dismissed earlier this morning, with a small group of 25 employees staying on to fulfill the company's obligations to its board and partners. CEO Pete Hawley issued the following statement: "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." Telltale will issue further comments regarding its product portfolio in the coming weeks.

Here's a statement from Netflix:

We are saddened by the news about Telltale Games - they developed many great games in the past and left an indelible mark in the industry. Minecraft: Story Mode is still moving forward as planned. We are in the process of evaluating other options for bringing the Stranger Things universe to life in an interactive medium.

Though Telltale co-founder and former CEO Kevin Bruner sued the company earlier this year, he also penned a goodbye to Telltale on his blog. "We chose to venture where others dared not go, and we found some success along the way. It took a lot of vision, luck, will power, teamwork, talent, and very long days and nights to get there, but it will forever have been worth it," he said in the blog post.

First published on Sept. 22 at 1:15 a.m. PT.

Update, Sept. 24 at 5:57 a.m. PT: Adds Melissa Hutchinson's statement.