Troubled Telltale Games lays off all staff without severance, save for 25 people (Updated)

Update, September 21, 2018 (5:46PM EST): Telltale Games posted a statement to its Twitter account which clarifies that the layoffs today are part of “a majority studio closure.” This likely means that after the completion of the final season of The Walking Dead game series, Telltale will officially shut down.

The tweet is reposted below:

Original Article, September 21, 2018 (04:39PM EST): Telltale Games creates episodic adventure games based on officially-licensed entertainment properties. Some of its more popular titles center on TV shows like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, comic book heroes such as Batman, and even major video game franchises like Borderlands.

Today, however, The Verge reports that a huge round of Telltale Games layoffs just occurred, with all staff terminated save for 25 individuals.

Reports suggest that there was no warning for the layoffs and the employees terminated received no severance pay.

This massive purge of staff comes only a few months after troubling reports surfaced in the press about “toxic” working conditions at Telltale Games. It’s also been less than a year since there was a significant (but smaller) round of layoffs at the company, which saw 90 people — or roughly 25 percent of its workforce — given pink slips.

It is currently unclear if the 25 remaining staff members will be able to take care of the day-to-day needs of a huge gaming production studio like Telltale, or if the purge of employees will beget a new round of recruitment — or the end of the company. Currently, Telltale’s flagship game — The Walking Dead — is in the middle of its final season on PC and consoles.

NEXT: Telltale Games cuts 25 percent of its employees in major restructuring