Telltale Games has reportedly laid off most of their staff
This is a sore subject, but I feel it necessary to add to the gaming layoff news: Telltale laid most of us off early September. Status of TWAU2, I can't say (NDA).
Now, I focus on what matters to me—my own game, and the following words:
Games industry, we must UNIONIZE.
[...]
I signed an agreement not to cause any harm to Telltale's business as part of my severance package. But I am legally allowed to speak on behalf of being laid off, and this statement of fact is sincerely not an attempt to cause harm or ruination to the company.
Additional non-contract breaking details: I originally re-joined Telltale because I've always wanted to work on TWAU2 (as a fan of the original). Our team was very small and I was genuinely excited for the game. Telltale has yet to publicize any of what has happened.
Well, there goes any hope for The Wolf Among Us 2. How terrible, I hope the devs at least got a good severance package.
Genuinely thought they folded years ago
They did. Telltale Incorporated folded in 2018. In 2019 LCG Entertainment bought the Telltale name, licensed their content and said, "We are Telltale Games now. We are going to do what Telltale was doing because that's what we are: Telltale Games. But not that other Telltale that owes that money to people, that's a different company."
Oh I just read about Disney doing that to the guy who wrote the original Star Wars novelizations, I think. They assumed all of Lucasfilm’s assets but not their liabilities, including royalty agreements.
It’s insane that this “works” for companies the size of Disney and Lucasfilm.
Ah, the benefits of nearly infinite money
"Also, employees of that other telltale that we are definitely not can go fuck themselves.
They're free to try and come back as expendable, independent contractors if they want."
The games industry is getting absolutely hammered by this stuff.
If there's a game currently in development, that doesn't have the backing of a large company and has more than 5 people working on it, there's a good chance its going to get canned because venture capitol backers aren't going to pick up the next bill.
To be fair the entire tech industry too is getting hammered. Times are hard on smaller companies, and it doesn't seem to be getting better. I'm hearing about layoffs every few days now.
Damn it has happened again, huh? Sucks 😮💨😔
The Wolf Among Us 2 is straight up a cursed game at this point.
Wasnt it TWAU that killed it last time too?
No, what killed it was them taking on too many high profile licenses at the same time and trying to juggle high workload and high demand with short turn around. Pair that with the fact that they change and work on things between episode releases, too.
Nerdslayer did a great job giving most of the history of TTG, from beginning to shutdown https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=8JUlDr7EdqQ
Also related, Bill Willingham, who wrote The Wolf Among Us, released his IPs in the public domain as a middle finger to DC, who's not paying him royalties, nor did they consult him on the making of the game. - https://exputer.com/news/games/the-wolf-among-us-creator-public/
It's really a shame, I loved their Sam & Max. Their Monkey Island was a lot of fun, as well.
They are going to bankruptcy harder.