You might be thinking while reading this headline: “Telltale Games? Didn’t they close five years ago?” The answer is yes, but also no: two months after the closure of Telltale Games, another company specializing in graphic adventure game development was created, also named… Telltale Games. And it turns out, this new underlying company isn’t doing well either, because they have just laid off a significant portion of their team.
The game among us
The company has not denied the accusations made by the employees holding them responsible, but they have found the typical excuse to get away with it, one that doesn’t really mean anything: the famous “current market conditions.” However, to reassure some unscrupulous gamers, they have also made it clear that their games currently in development will continue. They may have destroyed a few lives, but you can still look forward to ‘The Wolf Among Us 2’; everything is going smoothly.
It was Jonah Huang, a cinematics artist who came from the original Telltale, who spilled the beans on Twitter, stating that he signed “an agreement not to harm Telltale’s business as part of my severance. But I have legal permission to talk about being laid off, and this statement is not an attempt to cause harm or trouble for the company.” In the midst of massive layoffs in the world of video games, this revelation has hit like a boiling pot of oil, realizing that practically no one is spared from the cuts.
Huang took the opportunity to make it clear that “I don’t want Telltale to fail. I genuinely want to see it succeed. Telltale offered me a good salary this time, but it ended the same way as most jobs in the industry: a layoff, not a retirement.” Meanwhile, the company, known for games like ‘The Walking Dead‘ and ‘The Wolf Among Us,’ has announced that their “commitment to storytelling and exploring new ways to do so remains the same.”
The public’s response has been mixed, pending more information: some believe they did the right thing if they had no other choice, while others think every layoff should be met with joining a union and fighting back. The United States is at a crucial moment in its labor history right now. We’ll see how it all unfolds.
