It is currently impossible to purchase Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead: The Final Season. The adventure game, which should have see “Suffer the Children,” its second episode, launch on September 25, 2018, has instead been removed from all storefronts. This means you can not purchase the first episode, second episode, or season pass from PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Steam, or GOG listings.
Different product pages return different results when visited. The PlayStation Store product pages for past seasons of The Walking Dead remain, but The Final Season is absent. Microsoft’s page says, “The Walking Dead: The Final Season is currently not available.” Steam only allows people to download the demo. GOG.com notes on its site, “Telltale has requested a temporary pause of sales of The Walking Dead – Final Season. For all up to date Telltale news, please refer to their official Twitter page.” Telltale Games has not yet released a statement on its official Twitter account.
On September 21, 2018, Telltale Games announced it would begin a majority studio closure. Word coming out of the studio from the over 250 employees fired suggested all games were canceled, save the Minecraft: Story Mode Netflix project. This allegedly included The Walking Dead: The Final Season, along with the second season of The Wolf Among Us and a Stranger Things project.
The last known statement from Telltale Games came on September 24, 2018. The studio claimed “Suffer the Children” would be released as planned on September 25, 2018, and that it was working with multiple partners to get episode three, “Broken Toys,” and episode four, “Take Us Back,” made.
This delisting also comes after Polygon reported a class-action lawsuit was filed by Vernie Roberts, a former employee, against Telltale Games. The lawsuit states that Telltale Games violated both the federal and California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. The federal WARN Act says companies with at least 100 employees has to give a 60-day notice ahead of mass layoffs or closings, while the California WARN Act says a 60-day warning is needed if a company has at least 75 workers and will be firing at 50 or more people. Telltale Games fired 250 people without a 60-day warning. The class-action suit is asking for wages and benefits for employees for 60 days, with interest. It also requests a trial by jury.
The Walking Dead: The Final Season’s first episode, “Done Running,” was released on August 14, 2018 on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It was also supposedly in development for the Nintendo Switch.
