A Studio Reborn: Telltale’s New Lease On Life
By: Peter Conroy, Jr Creative Editor
Like their popular game, The Walking Dead, Telltale Studios has risen from the grave.
Developer and publisher Telltale Games recently scored an $8 million development and operations investment by Hiro Capital and Skybound Entertainment, allowing a rebirth for the previously ill-fated company. This would allow them to continue productions on their upcoming title The Wolf Among Us II, The Expanse: A Telltale Series, and an unannounced project.
Known for titles The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and Batman: The Telltale Series, Telltale Studios underwent a “majority studio closure” in 2018, losing around 90% of its present workforce (225 to 250 employees) on the day of its shutdown. Several investors saw promise in Telltale despite their circumstances, allowing them to return to their projects, with Hiro Capital and Skybound Entertain at the helm. The Wolf Among Us II announced for release in 2019, followed by The Expanse: A Telltale Series’ announcement in 2021. Yet as of 2023, none of these titles have reached completion.
Many long-time fans are now aware of the harsh, overworked conditions at Telltale Studios; 80-hour work weeks, crunching deadlines, and funding issues were commonplace. Due to said constraints, Telltale often finds themselves unable to flesh out their games to their ideal potential, but their titles remain popular amongst the gaming community.
“I’ve done [crunch], and I don’t want to do it again, and it’s not fair to ask [for] it. You can’t plan a business around it. So yeah, part of it is about maintaining a healthy work culture. We don’t want to burn out our good people. […] As an industry, if we’re going to continue to grow, we have to stop [burnout]. We just have to stop doing it and make better choices.” Telltale CEO Jamie Ottilie explained in an interview with Imagine Games Network (IGN).
The Wolf Among Us II is said to be delayed until 2024, with Telltale switching their gaming engine from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal 5. With part of the game already being developed in Unreal 4, the company is pushing to avoid overworking their employees and crunch mentality, instead giving the team and the game ample time to be developed.
To much positive buzz, the funding from the $8 million investment has allowed for talk of future installments in Telltale’s popular Walking Dead series, as Skybound owns the rights to the property.
Despite being put through the ringer and thrown to the wolves, Telltale aims to press onward, proving to its fans that they’re “Still. Not. Bitten.”.
