Following the devastating news of a massive layoff that occurred just this week at Telltale Games with no severance pay and no warning, news continues to pour out regarding the sudden shutdown and the situation surround what went down. Despite the Co-Founder stating they had “no choice” in the matter, the gaming community continues to rile up support – especially in light of a recent report that states the company hired a sleuth of new employees a week before the shutdown with some even having to relocated halfway across the country.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Former Narrative Director for the company, Emily Grace, continues to shed light on what happened while also offering a beacon of hope for those affected. In her initial string of Tweets following the shocking news, Grace revealed even scarier details regarding those negatively impacted by the decision:
– There are people who started at Telltale as recently as a week ago.
— Emily Grace Buck plz hire TTG devs! (@emilybuckshot) September 22, 2018
– Some of those people have children.
– At least one of them relocated cross country
– A lot of the Telltale devs have families & children. And now they don’t have a paycheck. Not even a severance paycheck.
She also mentioned in the surrounding thread, “Due to the insanely high cost of living in the Bay Area relative to pay scale, many of my (unbelievably skilled and talented) colleagues were living paycheck to paycheck and do not know what they are going to do to make ends meet this month,” wrote Buck. “There are people who started at Telltale as recently as a week ago. Some of those people have children. At least one of them relocated cross country.”
But she was by far not the only one “shown the door,” as she put it. Character Artist Brandon Cebenka also took to social media to reveal his thoughts on the situation with a word of caution to other hard workers out there:
“None of my sleepless nights or long hours on weekends trying to ship a game on time got me severance today. Don’t work overtime unless you’re paid for it, y’all. Protect your health. Companies don’t care about you.”
Other devs have come forward as well saying that the fast-paced environment was one doled out with abandon. One annoymous source told us, “The pressure was intense. You have all of these deadlines with no positive reinforcement. Just get it done, no matter what. Eventually you wonder ‘what am I even doing’ and now after being let go it makes you wonder what it was all even for.”
On a positive note, studios around the world are sharing their support. If you – or someone you know – has been affected by the recent closure, here is a list of studios actively wanting to help and are currently offering jobs.
