Telltale Games

Telltale Games is a developer and publisher.

Telltale Games Webpage, Facebook

Telltale Games was an independent American development studio, founded in 2004, that focused primarily on producing episodic adventure games. The company was headquartered in San Rafael, Marin County, California. Operating as an independent developer, Telltale Games was responsible for publishing most of its releases. At its peak, the studio employed approx. 280 employees. Telltale Games was shut down in September 2018 due to financial problems, but was revived by LCG Entertainment in 2019.

In its early years, Telltale Games consisted primarily of developers with extensive experience in creating classic adventure games, much of which they had gained at LucasArts. It's no wonder, then, that the American developer specialized in this genre; the only exceptions were the card game Telltale Texas Hold'em and the Poker Night series, which expanded upon its ideas. Telltale Games became famous for adapting popular film and comic book brands into video games. The studio's portfolio includes such well-known licenses as Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, Game of Thrones, Batman, and The Walking Dead, the last of which became Telltale's greatest success. Telltale Games also created titles based on well-known video game brands, including Monkey Island, Borderlands, and Minecraft.

With a few exceptions, most of Telltale Games' titles were released in episodic form, typically consisting of four to seven episodes launched at regular intervals. Over the years, the studio developed a distinctive style that set it apart from traditional point-and-click adventure games. Later Telltale Games productions are typically a specific combination of classic adventure elements, arcade-style QTE (Quick Time Event) sequences, and extensive, story-driven dialogue scenes. An inherent element of these games was a strong emphasis on player choice, which not only influenced the plot of a given episode but also carried over into subsequent ones. After its reopening in August 2019, the studio continued along the path it had previously charted.

History

The studio was established in 2004 by former LucasArts developers Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors, and Troy Molander. Before founding the studio, they had worked on Sam & Max Freelance Police, a sequel to the hit 1993 adventure game Sam & Max Hit the Road. Work on the game was suspended by LucasArts on March 3rd, 2004, and this decision became the main reason for the developers to leave their former employer and establish their own studio.

Telltale Games' first standalone production was Telltale Texas Hold'em, released in February 2005. Its main purpose was to test the studio's proprietary Telltale Tool engine, which later became the foundation for its subsequent games. It was also one of only three productions in the studio's portfolio (alongside the Puzzle Agent series) featuring entirely original characters not based on any existing brand. The company's next games were: Bone: Out from Boneville - an adaptation of Jeff Smith's comic book - and the casual detective game CSI: 3 Dimensions of Crime, developed for Ubisoft. This production was also Telltale Games' first episodic title, although all episodes were released simultaneously - as was the case with the next three installments in the series based on the popular crime show CSI.

In 2006, Telltale Games received $600,000 from private investors, which it used to buy the rights from LucasArts to complete Sam & Max: Freelance Police. However, after failing to obtain LucasArts' permission, the studio's management decided to secure the rights to create more games in the series from Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell. Sam & Max: Season 1, released in the same year, was Telltale Games' first production consisting of several episodes released at regular intervals - in this case, monthly. This approach became one of Telltale's trademarks. From that point onward, most of its later games - with a few exceptions like the Puzzle Agent or Poker Night series - were released digitally in episodic format. Most of them were also later released as collected box sets. These include the second season of Sam & Max (2007), Tales of Monkey Island (a continuation of the cult adventure series from the 1990s, released in 2009), Back to the Future (2011) and Jurassic Park (also released in 2011). It is worth noting that the last of these titles failed to meet the developers' sales expectations. Fortunately, the release of The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series in 2012 proved to be a spectacular artistic and commercial success. Following this success, the team embarked on a multi-year journey of developing similar narrative adventure games based on popular licenses.

Before the release of the official sequel to Telltale Games' biggest hit, The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series - Season Two in 2013, the studio released The Walking Dead: 400 Days, which introduced players to new characters and set the stage for upcoming events. In 2014, the team released several new titles. While The Wolf Among Us: A Telltale Games Series and Tales from the Borderlands: A Telltale Games Series were warmly received and gained a large fan base, the less successful Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series marked the first noticeable decline in the studio's reputation.

In February 2015, the studio entered into a partnership with the American-Canadian film company Lionsgate Entertainment, and the company's CEO, Jon Feltheimer, joined Telltale Games' board of directors. The result of this cooperation was to be the so-called "Super Shows" - unique productions in the studio's portfolio that combined elements of a television series and a video game. The first Super Show was intended to be a completely original production from Telltale Games, not based on any existing brand, marking a departure from the studio's previous practice.

The studio continued to produce new episodes of its series at an impressive pace. 2016 saw the debut of Minecraft: Story Mode - A Telltale Games Series, The Walking Dead: Michonne - A Telltale Games Mini-Series, Batman: The Telltale Series, and the third season of The Walking Dead - A New Frontier. In 2017, Telltale Games released a title based on the Guardians of the Galaxy movie license, alongside the second seasons of Minecraft: Story Mode and Batman: The Enemy Within. However, the company was already on a downward spiral. This was due both to the studio's worsening financial condition (more on that in a moment) and to the fact that players and reviewers complained about the low level of polish in its games.

The bad streak was supposed to be reversed by the final season of The Walking Dead , which began in 2018. However, before the release of its second episode, Telltale Games abruptly laid off 250 employees overnight, leaving fewer than thirty people to finish the Netflix-commissioned Minecraft: Story Mode adaptation. According to Joe Parlock, writing for Forbes and Polygon, the company had been struggling financially for a long time, with the main reason being that - apart from Minecraft: Story Mode - none of the studio's releases after the first The Walking Dead generated any profit. The condition of the games was undoubtedly also affected by the fact that, due to the large number of projects, the team operated under a constant state of crunch.

To make matters worse, the situation was aggravated by poor management decisions - a reluctance to adapt and the shelving of potentially successful projects, such as the planned Stranger Things game, which Telltale could have begun developing in 2016 but only secured a deal with Netflix two years later. The studio could not be saved from bankruptcy even by a change in its general director, who in early 2018 initiated a restructuring and planned to replace the aging Telltale Tool engine with the more versatile Unity.

Telltale Games ceased operations in September 2018.

Like a phoenix from the ashes

In August 2019, it was announced that Telltale Games would be revived. LCG Entertainment secured the rights to Telltale Games' name, the Puzzle Agent brand, and key licenses, such as Batman and The Wolf Among Us. The reborn Telltale Games joined forces with publisher Athlon Games and wasted no time getting started.

The Telltale Batman: Shadows Edition package became available in December 2019. The bundle contained two games from the Batman: The Telltale Games series, along with the Shadows Mode DLC, which added an alternative noir color palette and updated textures. Additionally, in the same month, the company revealed that it was developing The Wolf Among Us 2. Development on this project began from scratch, with the old Telltale Tool engine replaced by the more advanced and versatile Unreal Engine.

In the meantime, the revived Telltale Games worked on several smaller projects, primarily ports of the studio's earlier titles for the Nintendo Switch.

Moreover, in December 2021, Telltale Games announced another major project: the narrative adventure game The Expanse: A Telltale Series, set in the science fiction universe of the popular novel series, which was also adapted into a TV show. Released in July 2023 for PC and consoles, the game is a joint effort of the new Telltale Games and Deck Nine. The game was met with a warm reception, reflected in Metacritic scores ranging from 69 to 76/100 across platforms.

Nevertheless, the studio continued to struggle. In early October 2023, reports emerged that the studio was undergoing massive layoffs, with unofficial sources claiming that most employees would be affected. The company, however, assured that the layoffs would not impact its ongoing projects, particularly The Wolf Among Us 2.