Support NeoGAF

[IbizaPocholo]

Home Page - GameDaily.biz | We Make Games Our Business

gamedaily.biz

For nearly 15 years, Telltale Games was a staple of the industry, producing adventure games and narrative-driven experiences unlike any other studio. Then, in September of 2018, the rug was pulled out from beneath the developer’s feet, as 250 staff and contractors were laid off without severance, and by November a liquidation process had begun. It’s been a somber year, but in August, there was at least a glimmer of hope as LCG Entertainment acquired the Telltale name and some of its back catalog while vowing to treat the fanbase and its employees with respect.

Telltale 2.0 has faced enormous skepticism right out of the gate. At the time of the brand revival, a number of former Telltale employees said the new owners should pay off the debts of the original management, while others called for a boycott. Then, only a few days ago at The Game Awards, the new Telltale revealed The Wolf Among Us 2, which once again caused a mixture of excitement, apprehension, and other emotions.

“I am normally super positive about stuff but I cannot help but be super skeptical about a ‘’Telltale game,” commented Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail on Twitter.

For former Telltale employees, the wound is understandably still raw. Former lead writer Jess Krause tweeted at the unveiling of the sequel, “I’ve cried on the phone with friends and have had some hot chocolate. Deep breaths.

“I’m really happy for the guys at AdHoc. I know they’ll make something amazing, since they all worked on the first season back in the day. They have nothing but my love and well wishes. I am also very sad for our team, who worked so hard to get our project off the ground after we all lost our jobs. You guys don’t even know how hard they worked for it, because we all believed so much in our little game.”

As Krause alluded to, AdHoc is comprised of former Telltale staff and are spearheading the narrative and cinematic parts of development, with the new Telltale handling all other aspects of development. Rather than continue development on the project where the previous team left off, new Telltale CEO Jamie Ottilie has indicated that The Wolf Among Us 2 is starting its development over from scratch. He wants the new team to have a “clean slate” to work with.

In an interview with GameDaily this week, Ottilie expressed both understanding and frustration for the current situation the new Telltale Games finds itself in. While he wishes he could hire back all those who were affected, it’s not economically feasible. And he doesn’t believe it’s fair to be judged for mistakes made by the old company he had nothing to do with.

check the link for more.

 

[Spukc]

UwU

 

[Hendrick's]

So it's a completely new studio in all but name, but people are holding the past against them? Am I missing something here?

 

[Captain Star]

Call your studio something else, then.

 

[Doczu]

Will they at least change the fucking engine? One of the reasons ive stopped playing Telltale games, sometimes even mid-season were some game breaking bugs, performance issues and saves that magically dissapeared.

 

[Vampire On Titus]

Yeah, I don't know what people expect from this new LCG Entertainment TellTale. They got some staff from OG TellTale on board, some others as freelancers and they're working with a studio comprised of Ex-OG TellTale devs for Wolf 2. So it's not like they're just ghosting the original team. It's not reasonable to expect that they'd be able to pay the OG staff their missing severance. It's also not reasonable to expect that they could hire everyone back, who's still wanting for a job. One of the biggest reasons OG TellTale went under was over-staffing under the assumption all their games would sell like The Walking Dead. When I see people make these complaints it almost feels like they want this new TTG to go under as quickly as it started.

There's still a class action lawsuit underway against the original TellTale Games, iirc, so hopefully the former employees get some compensation that way. But the responsibility doesn't fall on LCG Entertainment imo.

Will they at least change the fucking engine? One of the reasons ive stopped plating Telltale fames, sometimes even mid-season were some game breaking bugs, performance issues and saves that magically dissapeared.

They're using Unreal 4 for The Wolf Among Us 2.

 

[Bkdk]

It’s all on wolf among us 2 now. Hopefully the disaster of Life is strange to life is strange 2 won’t happen to them to prove it’s a real resurrection of the company. Though it’s not a game I’ll buy for sure, I’ll just watch on YouTube, still hope for a enjoyable time though.

 

[Codes 208]

Make one game with even 50% less bugs and you’ll already be better than Telltale games 1.0

 

[Enjay]

Gonna be funny to read about them going out of business again in the near future.

 

[mejin]

Gonna be funny to read about them going out of business again in the near future.

Telltale 3.0 incoming

 

[Blond]

They aren't really responsible for the wrongs of the old owners?

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

I can't say too much, but they know what people hated about the old Telltale and are going to fix it.

 

[bitbydeath]

They should be locked in a room with Supermassive and be taught branching.

 

[Doczu]

They're using Unreal 4 for The Wolf Among Us 2.

Oh that's fantastic to hear. Finally a competent engine with nice graphics and (hopefully!) stabillity and performance to boot.

 

[HaveButOneLife]

Oh that's fantastic to hear. Finally a competent engine with nice graphics and (hopefully!) stabillity and performance to boot.

I liked the look of the new iteration of their engine TBH, but I'll take it.

 

[Elektro Demon]

Never really liked Telltale's games.

 

[STARSBarry]

I cant be arsed to look this up on the train but depending on who is using the name and how they acquired them they wont be legally entitled to pay the severance and supplier debts but they morally should (lol I know)

A good example of this is Toys R Us where the people who purposely bankrupted the company did so to wipe the slate clean after making huge profits off selling away the company's assets and now no longer needed to pay suppliers who's items they had just sold. Those same people have hired back a majority of the old leadership and are relaunching the brand, the diffrence is now they no longer have a company who's entire network they used as a down payment to buy the company and they dont have to worry about that huge pension pot. They literally paid nothing for an entire global company stripped it of everything of value and then bankrupted it to not have to pay any debts and are now relaunching its brand they retained. In cases like this then yes the new company SHOULD be held by the sins of the past.

However as I said I cant be bothered to see if its similair on my phone on the way to work, anyone help a dude out and have a look?