While the idea of combining Payday 2 with zombies is not without merit, the end result was unfortunately a bit of a mess. Overkill's The Walking Dead launched with a variety of technical problems, boring mission design, uninspired combat and a surprising lack of content given how long it was in development. Overkill promised that they would sort all of those issues out with patches, but according to the latest announcement, it would appear that will not be happening.

In a statement given to Variety, Robert Kirkman's Skybound Games said that they share the community's disappointment with Overkill's The Walking Dead and that they are in the process of terminating their contract with the studio. The console versions of Overkill's The Walking Dead have consequently been canceled, while the fate of the PC version is still up in the air. 

"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," reads the statement. "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."

While the nuclear option seems a bit excessive to me, I can't say I'll be sad to see Overkill's The Walking Dead fade away. What does make me genuinely sad, however, is seeing Overkill fall so low after already proving that they know how to make a highly enjoyable game with Payday 2. I can only hope the studio will recover, and once its management issues have been fixed, go back to creating great games again.

Once Starbreeze or Overkill announce their plans for the future I'll make sure to let you know, but until then I'm afraid all we can really do is wait and see what happens.