One of the most noteworthy video game studio closures over the past decade was the closure of Telltale Games, the studio behind major adventure games such as The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and Batman: The Telltale Series. When the studio shut down in October 2018, some of its major titles such as Minecraft: Story Mode were delisted from digital storefronts including Steam, Xbox Live, and PlayStation Network.
One of the more niche titles to be removed was Tales of Monkey Island, one of the studio's first episodic titles. The game was created by some ex-LucasArts developers who helped co-found Telltale Games after the studio moved away from developing point-and-click adventure games. The game was released in five episodes throughout 2009 and then later ported to consoles such as the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii in 2010.
The game was delisted from all digital storefronts in November 2018, likely due to Telltale's closure and an inability to renew the rights with Disney, which acquired the Monkey Island franchise after purchasing LucasFilm in 2013. Today, the game has returned to Steam and GoG, thanks to publisher Athlon Games and developer LCG Entertainment, the latter of which acquired parts of Telltale's back-catalog and is responsible for reviving The Wolf Among Us 2, which was announced at the 2019 Game Awards.
Despite this, several Telltale Games titles such as Tales From the Borderlands and Minecraft: Story Mode remain delisted. It is currently unclear if LCG Entertainment and Athlon Games intend on reviving them, which would likely involve signing new contracts with 2K Games and Microsoft, as they own the Borderlands and Minecraft IP, respectively.
Currently, the game is listed on Steam and GoG as a bundle featuring all five episodes at a discounted price of $10, down from $20. While it is exciting to see Tales of Monkey Island return to digital storefronts, its release, along with remasters such as Grim Fandango Remastered, Day of the Tentacle Remastered and Full Throttle Remastered, could imply that Disney has plans on capitalizing on the success of LucasArt's classic adventure games in the future.
Furthermore, the company also brought titles such as The Curse of Monkey Island, Sam & Max: Hit the Road and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb to Steam in late 2018, running on the ScummVM emulator.