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[bananafactory]

Their official Twitter account tweeted this article:

https://twitter.com/telltalegames/status/554781970211667968

Telltale President & Co-Founder Kevin Bruner transitions to CEO; Confirms Original IP in development:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-01-12-telltale-president-bruner-becomes-ceo

Telltale president Bruner becomes CEO

Telltale, home of The Walking Dead and Game Of Thrones, has announced that its president and co-founder Kevin Bruner is changing roles and becoming CEO of the company.

Former CEO Dan Connors is sticking around and will take a new role as executive advisor.

"2014 marked our tenth consecutive year of continued growth since co-founding Telltale with Kevin Bruner in 2004. In that time, we've been incredibly proud to have accomplished so much with some of the most talented people in entertainment," said Connors.

"2015 is the first of the next ten years for an ever-evolving Telltale. As we enter this new phase, and as Kevin transitions to my former role of CEO, I will remain with the company and on the board in an advisory role that will help ensure Telltale's vision of continuing to break new ground as leading storytellers in the entertainment space."

Bruner and Connors founded the company back in 2004 with Troy Molander. In that time it has worked with some of the biggest cult IPs available from Monkey Island to Back To The Future. It's currently at work on a Minecraft spin-off, Minecraft: Story Mode.

New CEO Bruner explained the changes within the company.

"Each year since Telltale's 2004 birth has been more exciting than the last, and 2015 will be no exception," he said.

"We're thrilled to continue our growth and bring our unique style of scripted entertainment to the next generation of digital media, and do that across thousands of different devices. Our top priority is to continue fostering an environment where the most talented and creative storytellers in the industry are working side by side with the world's biggest creative partners. We're already working on some of the biggest franchises in entertainment, and when you add our unannounced partnerships and upcoming original IP, it's clear the most exciting time to be at Telltale is now, and there will continue to be more and more opportunity to innovate ahead of us."

 

[AEREC]

To use same shitty engine.

 

[VeryGooster]

Telltale game about working at Telltale Games.

To use same shitty engine.

I was taken aback how not great TWD season two ran on PS4 honestly.

 

[Caboose]

They have to be hiring a ton of people, right? They seem to be spreading themselves so thin.

 

[vareon]

About time.

 

[Marcel]

Telltale Games confirms original, shitastic engine will still be used to meet deadlines.

 

[Nzyme32]

Good! I'm totally down with it. If it's bad, I'd be disappointed but at least I get to see what there own IP could become. Hope things go well. Looking forward to hearing more. Really digging these games lately

 

[Hamster Plugin]

Yet another game from them. How many Telltale series are in progress right now?

 

[CambriaRising]

Will they fix bugs in this one?

 

[AEREC]

They have to be hiring a ton of people, right? They seem to be spreading themselves so thin.

They are hiring a ton of story writers apparently. These same writers are also doing programming and engine optimizations.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Another game? They have borderlands, game of thrones, walking dead, minecraft. Now this?

Slow down telltale, you don't need all your hands/feet in the pie.

 

[BibiMaghoo]

WD season 3 will never happen.

 

[bananafactory]

Because I know the engine complaints are coming, Tales from the Borderlands runs flawlessly on PS4. I think now that previous gen is behind us the horrible performance will slowly disappear.

 

[R3TRODYCE]

Good.

 

[Marcel]

Will they fix bugs in this one?

They are hiring a ton of story writers apparently. These same writers are also doing programming and engine optimizations.

So I guess the answer to CambriaRising's question is a flat "no".

 

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

Yet another game from them. How many Telltale series are in progress right now?

Let's see:

Game of Thrones
Tales from the Borderlands
Minecraft
Walking Dead: Season Three (I think this has been confirmed?)

So five, including this announcement.

 

[snoopeasystreet]

I wish they'd make another Puzzle Agent but I guess we're lucky we even got a second one.

 

[Huw_Dawson]

Bone: Season 2.

 

[ClayKavalier]

They are hiring a ton of story writers apparently. These same writers are also doing programming and engine optimizations.

Yikes. Seems like they should be making some money at this point, at some point they need to take a break from making four series simultaneously and get their tech in order.

They need to come up with something really interesting if it's original IP, they're quickly hitting Guitar Hero-style fatigue with the number of similar-playing games they're making.

 

[wrowa]

I would be excited about this if Telltale Games wouldn't play all the same lately. Their style is getting stale.

 

[RoboPlato]

Finally. Been hoping they would do their own thing sometime soon. They've nade enough of a name for themselves through licensed products that they have enough clout to make something that'll get attention.

 

[wenis]

Let's see:

Game of Thrones
Tales from the Borderlands
Minecraft
Walking Dead: Season Three (I think this has been confirmed?)

So five, including this announcement.

 

[AEREC]

Yikes. Seems like they should be making some money at this point, at some point they need to take a break from making four series simultaneously and get their tech in order.

They need to come up with something really interesting if it's original IP, they're quickly hitting Guitar Hero-style fatigue with the number of similar-playing games they're making.

Sorry...this was kind of a joke post on the state of their engine. I actually have no idea about their hiring practices.

 

[petethepanda]

Been waiting for this for years. (I guess Puzzle Agent, but still.)

 

[Marcel]

Finally. Been hoping they would do their own thing sometime soon. They've nade enough of a name for themselves through licensed products that they have enough clout to make something that'll get attention.

Or it'll be the thing that showcases how stretched thin they are, since apparently they've locked in licenses that we still don't know about.

 

[Bomber Bob]

Telltale game about working at Telltale Games.

lol that would be great

 

[ClayKavalier]

Sorry...this was kind of a joke post on the state of their engine. I actually have no idea about their hiring practices.

Haha! Sadly that's pretty believable.

Though FWIW I just started playing the disc version of Wolf Among Us on PS4 and it's been running surprisingly well so far.

 

[foxtrot3d]

Let's see:

Game of Thrones
Tales from the Borderlands
Minecraft
Walking Dead: Season Three (I think this has been confirmed?)

So five, including this announcement.

Well, when you cut all gameplay out of your games it doesn't become too hard to work on so many projects.

 

[Caboose]

They are hiring a ton of story writers apparently. These same writers are also doing programming and engine optimizations.

I, uh, don't particularly like the sound of that

 

[Boem]

We'll see. They've been saying they're going to do original IP since 2004, before their first Bone game even launched. They've mentioned it now and again over the years when asked in an interview or press release, but increasingly big IP's often seem to get in the way. Upcoming original IP can mean a lot of things, and in Telltale's case the word 'upcoming' has meant at least 10 years now. It's still upcoming!

Their very first game (which was more of an internal engine test that they released to the public - it's so weird to me that they're still using the same engine after all these years) is still the only original ip they ever made. It's not very good:

Can't wait for the return of Harry Weinhead and Theodore Dudebrough (before you ask, this was years before Gaf started making the Dudebrough joke).

 

[Garrett Hawke]

Finally! Can't wait to see what they'll put together.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Crossing Fingers for Dinosaurs!
Since they seem to have just let the Jurassic Park IP die, unless Jurassic World proves to be such a success that they can't ignore it ( I hope so).

 

[Marcel]

Well, when you cut all gameplay out of your games it doesn't become too hard to work on so many projects.

If you were ever expecting substantive gameplay from Telltale...well, you might as well hope your closet is a portal to Narnia (coming soon from Telltale, 2017).

 

[FlyinJ]

Because I know the engine complaints are coming, Tales from the Borderlands runs flawlessly on PS4. I think now that previous gen is behind us the horrible performance will slowly disappear.

GoT runs like absolute garbage on XBone. It staggers between 10 and 25 fps, and never once hits 30.

 

[_woLf]

Shocking prediction: New IP to be episodic and have a hand-drawn artstyle.

 

[MyNameIsRye]

I love their games despite the crappy engine. Looking forward to what they can do with an original story.

 

[Berordn]

We're never going to see Tales of Monkey Island 2 or Sam and Max season 4 are we

 

[bananafactory]

GoT runs like absolute garbage on XBone. It staggers between 10 and 25 fps, and never once hits 30.

 

[Phediuk]

Telltale games feel like they roll off an assembly line at this point. They really need to get a new engine or dabble in a new genre or something.

 

[Choomp]

Let's see:

Game of Thrones
Tales from the Borderlands
Minecraft
Walking Dead: Season Three (I think this has been confirmed?)

So five, including this announcement.

Is Wolf Among Us season 2 a thing? Please let it be a thing.

At this point I'm buying anything they put out so I'm excited, their engine can only improve from here (right?)

 

[Miles Quaritch]

When smaller developers are able to do what you attempt to do, much better than you could ever hope to achieve, on their first try no less, it's time to realise you fucked up somewhere and that somewhere is your shit engine, mediocre gameplay mechanics and insanely poor QA.

So yeah. Stuff the new IP. Sort that shit out first.

 

[cLOUDo]

Will they fix bugs in this one?

 

[nikos]

Hopefully it's interesting. I don't like any of the IPs they've worked with so far. Would be nice to try their games.

 

[Tregard]

Poker Night at The Inventory to become fully fledged point and click

 

[MyNameIsRye]

Telltale games feel like they roll off an assembly line at this point. They really need to get a new engine or dabble in a new genre or something.

I can understand the new engine...but why change what they're good at? They are still making fun games with amazing stories. GoT and borderlands are off to great starts!

 

[foxtrot3d]

If you were ever expecting substantive gameplay from Telltale...well, you might as well hope your closet is a portal to Narnia (coming soon from Telltale, 2017).

I gave up on that after TWD S2, but I did at least somewhat hope for some gameplay when GoT was announced. Unfortunately, that was not to be. Oh well, I still enjoy their games regardless.

 

[bananafactory]

I can understand the new engine...but why change what they're good at? They are still making fun games with amazing stories. GoT and borderlands are off to great starts!

Pretty much my sentiment as well. Update the engine or art style or whatever have you but no reason to change genres.

No one is clamoring for Polyphony to stop making racing games. Studios tend to stick to what they're good at, be it shooters, RPGs, or adventure games.

 

[Lord of Castamere]

Fuck the new ip. Give me an actually functioning Poker Night 2 port or Poker Night 3 on PS4.

 

[Dominator]

So more unannounced franchise IP's and an original one? How many people work at this studio?

 

[Boem]

On Telltale changing gameplay styles - as someone who actually likes most of the games, I don't think that's a bad thing at all. I don't mean that they should start making kart racers or FPS'es, but there are a lot of variations possible within the adventure genre. You had Sam & Max and Monkey Island for classic Lucasarts-style point & click games, the modern games for the more Heavy Rain style semi-action adventures, you had Layton-style puzzles in Puzzle Agent, they've made a couple of Poker Games. I wish they experimented more - I'm not looking for 'more' gameplay as some people put it, just different ways of relaxing with good characters and an immersive world. There are enough other companies out there making more action oriented games - the short action sequences in Telltale's games are always just there because the story demands it. I never walk away from them wishing they were more elaborate than they are.

I don't particularly mind that they've moved away from classic adventure puzzles for a bit (although I hope they'll get back to that at some point), but I do miss the moments where you're just walking around an environment at your own pace. They're still there from time to time, but you're mostly just pushed from scene to scene fairly quickly. I always like the calmer scenes the most.