The unfortunate tale of Telltale Games is coming to its unfortunate end at last as The Walking Dead maker, or what's left of it after the mass layoffs, is currently undergoing liquidation of assets and removing some games from Steam.
Not all Telltale's games are being removed though - the likes of Game of Thrones and Batman are staying put. Tales of Monkey Island, Back to the Future and the firm fan favourite The Walking Dead, on the other hand, haven't been as lucky and are no longer available via Steam.
The process is being handled by a company going by the name of Sherwood Partners, although we're not looking at traditional bankruptcy here but the assignment for the benefit of creditors. Attorney Brandon Huffman said, "All that means is that they were able to find someone to give them enough money for assets to pay any creditors or they had the money on hand."
Since this is not a court process but more like an arbitration, Telltale and Sherwood Partners are making sure that the process is as quick and painless as possible. Of course, this claim is valid solely for the company's management and creditors, not the , who may have been dealt with quickly, but most certainly not painlessly.
The news of Telltale games closing with immediate effect broke just as quickly, for the general public and . They were the ones who had 30 minutes to process the unfortunate news of their management rewarding their dedication with unemployment, as well as pack up and leave the premises in the same time frame.
Telltale's management left their employees without severance pay, which was met with a huge public backlash, but the company took all the necessary steps to justify its position legally. Nevertheless, one of their former employees filed a against the company, arguing that they violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN).
Telltales
Note that even though the WARN Act stipulates that employers with 100 or more employees must provide a 60-day notification prior to plant closings and mass layoffs, it's still subject to certain exceptions, which the company seems to have been aware of as well.
