Netflix: Still Keen on Stranger Things Game Despite Telltale’s End

Following the news of majority lay-offs at Telltale Games last Friday, numerous questions loomed regarding the status of the studio’s previously announced projects.

Streaming giant Netflix has now stepped in to dispel some of the confusion. It has affirmed that although Telltale is no longer associated with its Stranger Things game, it still aspires to carry on the project in some manner. Additionally, it has disclosed that Telltale will finish the work on its interactive TV adaptation of Minecraft: Story Mode.

Telltale’s alliance with Netflix was proclaimed in June, along with the tidings that the collaboration would give rise to two initial projects. The first was an adaptation of Netflix’s 80s-themed sci-fi show Stranger Things – which numerous people presumed would employ Telltales’ customary episodic narrative pattern – and a version of the 2015 Minecraft: Story Mode game, reconfigured into a 5-episode interactive TV-show-style encounter.

However, in a fresh statement furnished to Polygon, Netflix has confirmed that Telltale’s Stranger Things project has come to an end, and that it is currently “in the process of assessing other alternatives for bringing the Stranger Things universe to life in an interactive medium.” Meanwhile, Minecraft: Story Mode is “still progressing as planned” at the studio.

When it officially confirmed Friday’s extensive redundancies, Telltale mentioned that “a small group of 25 employees [are] remaining to fulfill the company’s duties to its board and partners.” At that time, it was indistinct what these obligations might entail, but it now appears probable that the remaining team members will be completing the work on Netflix’s Minecraft: Story Mode.

Telltale’s statement also indicated that the studio would “provide further remarks concerning its product portfolio in the upcoming weeks”. And although Telltale is not yet prepared to deliberate on the destiny of its projects, various reports from former Telltale staff and studio collaborators over the weekend seemingly imply the cancellation of both the highly anticipated second season of The Wolf Among Us, and the remaining episodes of The Walking Dead: The Final Season.

Those who have purchased the season, which has thus far witnessed the release of only one of the four planned episodes (with a second slated for tomorrow), will doubtless be eager for an official update shortly.