The Walking Dead's Final Season Could Be Finished After All
But there's a catch...
When it was announced last week that Telltale was all but done for, with over 200 employees laid off, the currently in-development Walking Dead game, along with other titles like The Wolf Among Us 2 and Stranger Things, were effectively cancelled.
Of course, it was the loss of the zombie adventure game that hurt the most. Not only was it the finale to the series which effectively broke Telltale into the mainstream and into our hearts, but part of the game was already out, with the second episode dropping the day after the studio announced its closure.
In the wake of the cancellation, Telltale did indicate that they were working with “potential partners” to get the season finished, but weren’t willing to reveal much more than that. However, the latest Kotaku report, which has sourced people directly involved in the situation, has expanded on how the company allegedly plan to salvage The Walking Dead’s final season.
First and foremost is the fact that Telltale will not be trying to secure funds to finish the game rather than pay the severance their laid-off employees deserved, which was the initial issue when the prospect of the title being completed was first brought up. Instead it won’t be the company developing the game at all, but they’re instead hoping to find another studio to pick up the reigns.
The idea is that another publisher and developer will take control and contract the former Walking Dead team in to finish the project. Some sources have claimed that the dream is to get the entire team back on board, but it may just end up being whoever is essential to project’s final stages. Whether that pans out or not as the former employees look for other work, of course, is unclear.
What’s potentially tragic depending on how this all turns out is how close Telltale allegedly were to finishing the final two episodes before they went under. Episode 3 was apparently almost complete and about to enter the ratings stage, which means it would have only needed a couple more weeks of testing and polishing before it was fit for market. The fourth ep was also apparently quite far along, with a fully-playable build originally planned for the end of September, and the first round of voice acting also complete.
Unfortunately, the state of any potential deal is still up in the air. Telltale were apparently expecting to hear something concrete on the 28th of September, which has obvious come and gone. The sources stressed to Kotaku that the longer these chats last, the less likely it’ll be that former employees will be available to return.
Who’s the most likely to take the reigns of The Walking Dead? Well, Life is Strange developers Dontond Entertainment seem like a perfect match, but whether they’ll have the resources - or even the inclination - to bankroll the final episodes is unknown. It seems like it won’t be too much work, but it’ll no doubt be a logistical nightmare to get everything into place.
Still, the future of The Walking Dead is looking a little bit optimistic, but this constant stringing along of hope could just make it even more disappointing if these plans don’t work out.