Retail to make a killing with The Walking Dead

The High Street will find new life in the undead next month as The Walking Dead arrives on shelves.

The award-winning title was originally released last year as episodic downloads by Telltale Games, with 8.5m episodes purchased by the end of 2012.

Retail will be able to cash in on the phenomenon when a boxed version arrives for 360, PS3 and PC on May 10th.

The Walking Dead will be distributed by Avanquest – the firm’s first console title. It will retail at 29.99 on 360/PS3 and 19.99 on PC.

It arrives ahead of a potentially bleak summer with new releases spread thinly across May and June.

There are people who simply do not buy games via download and are much more comfortable buying at retail, especially in Europe,” Telltale’s SVP of publishing Steven Allison told MCV.

With such a competitive price point and a title of this standard, the game comes into the impulse category.

We feel it has real longevity and the ability to produce a longer life-cycle than many triple-A titles.”

Avanquest’s Euro boss Simon Reynolds added: To work with such a high-profile, award-winning game is a huge achievement and testament to our growing reputation.”