StarBreeze Studio Loses Rights to The Walking Dead

I’m no fan of Starbreeze Studios, but even I have to feel bad for how the company’s been doing as of late. They pissed off all their Payday 2 fans, their offices were raided on accusations of insider trading, and in case you didn’t hear, their latest game, Overkill’s The Walking Dead has not been going well at all. The game was a mess on PC, and it was so bad that the owner of the IP (and the people who salvaged Telltale’s The Walking Dead) Skybound Entertainment actually canceled the console port of the game.

And now things have gone from bad to worse, because it was just announced that the very same company was also revoking Starbreeze Studio’s rights to use the Walking Dead IP, canceling their contract and killing off the game for good, effectively.

"As of today, we have terminated our contract with Starbreeze Studios and will discontinue all efforts on Overkill's The Walking Dead… Our creators and their stories are the core of Skybound, and since 2014 we have worked hard to expand the world of The Walking Dead into an exceptional Co-op Action FPS. We did our best to work with Starbreeze and resolve many issues that we saw with the game, but ultimately Overkill's The Walking Dead did not meet our standards nor is it the quality that we were promised."

"We are exceedingly sorry to our fans and share their disappointment in the game. We remain dedicated to providing our fans with the most premium quality content we can offer, and will continue to look for alternative video game options for the IP."

There have been a lot of layoffs in the games industry as of late. It’s hard to not look at the situation that Starbreeze Studio is in and think that more layoffs are just on the horizon.