The final project from Telltale Games, a Netflix version of 2015’s episodic Minecraft: Story Mode, started on the digital telly service yesterday. “Not with a bang but a whimper” and all that. Netflix subscribers can now play the first three episodes of season 1 on their personal computers, or pocket telephones, or digital slates, or strange television boxes, or what have you, with the final two due on December 5th. Ah sure, Telltale’s stuck-in-the-middle The Walking Dead: The Final Season will be finished after their closure but by another company, so this is final actual Telltale launch.

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Following yesterday’s initial reports that Telltale Games were effectively shutting down, the studio behind licensed story ’em ups including The Walking Dead and Batman: The Enemy Within have confirmed the bad news. All but 25 Telltale employees have been let go (that’s 250-ish people gone, former members report), cut down to a skeleton crew to “fulfil the company’s obligations to its board and partners.” The studio say they’ve had “a year marked by insurmountable challenges.” Telltale haven’t yet confirmed quite what will happen to their past, present, and future games, saying they’ll talk about their portfolio “in the coming weeks”, but I wouldn’t expect much more from them. What a sorry mess.

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Update: Telltale have officially confirmed the bad news that they’ve closed most the studio and only 25 employees remain.>

As reported by Gamasutra, it seems that prolific choose-your-own-adventure studio Telltale Games is shutting down. This is backed up by media posts from developers at and close to the studio, such as Outerloop’s Chandana Ekanayake.

The Verge report that a skeleton crew of around 25 will remain at the studio, down from around 250. A source tells USGamer the upcoming The Wolf Among Us 2 and a Stranger Things adventure series have been cancelled. Telltale Games have released no official statement yet.

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Minecraft and Stranger Things have gone hand-in-hand before, as seen in the official crossover skin pack above, but this deal between streaming megalith Netflix and adventure game studio Telltale (as reported by Techradar) seems a little more direct. Telltale will be adapting their Minecraft: Story Mode games into an interactive, streaming video series for kids on Netflix, while Netflix will be granting the studio the Stranger Things license, presumably to create yet another series of their episodic choose-your-own-adventure games.

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Telltale Games have announced a second season of their cuboid adventure series Minecraft: Story Mode [official site]. As is the Telltale way, Season 2 will pick off where the first left off, remembering your decisions and lumping you with the consequences. Though the consequences here are somewhat sunnier than in e.g. The Walking Dead seasons, seeing as it’s based on Minecraft. Season 2 will kick off on July 11th. … [visit site to read more]

You’re still ‘down with’ teenagers, of course you are. Them with their interest in skateboarding and Ant & Dec and their cool lingo like ‘cowabunga’, ‘necking’ and ‘jam that with a slice of ham’. You’ll impress all your teen relatives at the coming month of festivities, I’m sure. But what about the younger ones? Do preteens still calling good things ‘well Cbeebies’ and bad things ‘total Dipsy’? What do they even like? What will they think of you? What will they think of old, old you? It’s fine: they’re mostly into Minecraft and MDMA. I can help you with the former, at least. Look: the first episode of Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode [official site] is free for a bit. … [visit site to read more]

Telltale Games’ lighthearted Minecraft: Story Mode’s [official site] season premiere episode is free to download right now across various platforms, including Windows 10. So if you were curious if this might be the next Telltale adventure game you should throw money at, you can give it a look without spending any. … [visit site to read more]

Ooh everyone’s jacking in nowadays. Even video game characters can’t resist slapping on their cybergoggles and, apparently, playing a blocky version of Dishonored. That’s what Jesse will be up to in Episode 7 of Minecraft: Story Mode [official site], which Telltale have announced will launch next Tuesday. With a sentient Redstone computer taking over everyone’s minds, it looks like Jesse is entering the cyberzone to brainjack its minions. Cybering within cybering – a very advanced technique.

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Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode [official site] has brought in a load of famous YouTube people for its latest episode, which seems like something they should’ve done from the start. Growed-ups might coo over the sardonic comedy stylings of Patton Oswalt (I’ve enjoyed him in Lady Dynamite> lately – good innit?) but kids would much rather adventure with Stampy Cat. Now they can meet him, and other beloved youngfolk with children’s TV presenter voices, in Episode 6: A Portal to Mystery.

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Telltale’s episodic adventure Minecraft: Story Mode [official site] is due to wrap up this month an- oh no, no it isn’t. Telltale today announced that the fifth episode of their storytelling spin-off will launch next Tuesday, March 29th, but also announced that it won’t be the final episode. Another three parts are coming later this year, Telltale now say, “post-season episodes” sold as DLC beyond the original five-episode season pass.

… [visit site to read more]