Joining in with Telltale’s The Walking Dead, the game joins the collection of titles based on the famous IP that were just not meant for this world. I would probably be much sadder if it wasn’t so meta.
Overkill’s take on the IP was… underwhelming in many ways. According to the internet rumor mill, which I am somewhat inclined to believe this time around, the developers wasted a big chunk of the development time on fiddling around with an engine unfit to create the game. And as result, the Left 4 Dead-esque coop shooter failed to meet expectations, which I need to point out, really weren’t that high.
This all happened when Starbreeze was facing just a whole lot of different problems, from allegations of insider trading (a serious problem that can indirectly affect wide swashes of economy due to its relation with the stock market), up to and including a hanging threat of bankruptcy. If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s been happening a lot lately in the industry.
As a result, Skybound Entertainment, the owner of The Walking Dead IP, terminated the contract they had with Starbreeze. Overkill’s The Walking Dead was pulled from Steam (partially, it’s still available to play, but you can’t buy a copy on Steam). Starbreeze assured the fans who already owned the game that they’re trying to rectify the situation and are committed to delivering the climax of the second season.
How well things will go remains to be seen. Skybound attempted to save Telltale’s The Walking Dead, but whether it will extend the same courtesy to Starbreeze is unclear at this point.
Can the company bounce back up after this? Probably not. One the plus-side, we still got Keys for the game at our Marketplace(TM), if you’re interested.