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Two weeks after Telltale Games fired most of its staff, the fate of the last season in four episodes of the popular The dead who walk series remains in question. Behind closed doors, the company continues to work on an agreement that the third and fourth episodes will be completed by another company using former employees of Telltale, according to two people accustomed to trading. And the third episode is already almost finished, said these people.
Telltale had already publicly declared working with "multiple potential partners" to complete and broadcast the third and fourth episodes after the studio fired about 90 percent of its employees without warning or severance pay at the end of September. On September 24, Telltale said via his company Twitter account that despite the "closure of most of the studio" that had just occurred, the second episode would be aired as planned the next day, and he was working to complete the other two. This triggered some anger among industry watchers, which sparked questions about Telltale's decision to outsource the development of a game whose staff had just been left behind.
The agreement is, however, more nuanced than initially assumed, according to two people who knew the current discussions and spoke anonymously because they were not allowed to talk about the negotiations. According to them, the agreement took shape, namely that Telltale entrusted the last two episodes to a separate company that would hire former contract employees of Telltale to end the match. That would be the name of that company on the paychecks, it was said, and no, both claimed, a case where Telltale would have obtained additional funds and would have spent them on development rather than paying a compensation of departure to recently dismissed employees.
These two people also said that episode three of The dead who walkThe last season is basically over. In fact, they said, it was planned to carry out a rating review, which traditionally occurs in the final stages of game development before being sent for platform certification and the Entertainment Software Rating Board. the very day of massive layoffs. There was only a few weeks left of varnish.
Episode Four was also on the way, said these people, with a first round of voice play for the main characters already recorded and a first revision of a playable version scheduled for the end of September. "The scenario was solid and the whole team was excited about finishing the Clem story," said a former developer. Kotaku. The release of episode three was originally scheduled for November 16 and episode four for December 18.
As for who exactly could come back to finish the series, a former developer said Kotaku this would ideally be the entire original team, but could be as small as what would be absolutely necessary to pull out the remaining episodes. However, as negotiations drag on, it is hard to know who will always be available when former employees will fight to find a new job. Many of those who were fired last month, who received no warning and did not receive any form of severance pay, do not have the luxury of sitting waiting to see if they will receive a call. telephone.
A person familiar with the agreement said that she initially expected to hear of an initial agreement by Friday, September 28. It was also the deadline set by Telltale in a statement to Kotaku after releasing episodes already completed last season of the series of store shelves.
"We are still looking for a way to transfer the production of episodes 3 and 4 so that the season can be completed," said a spokesman for the company at the time. This spokesperson has also been fired since. "The result of these efforts will determine when and how The last season go back to the stores. We hope to have a firm announcement before the end of the week. "
Telltale did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new timeline for a potential deal and on its possible appearance. A former developer pointed out Kotaku the longer the discussions last, the more people who took the risks are The dead who walk would not be here to finish it.
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