In what continues to be a horrific year for the people who make video games, layoffs have been announced at the newly revamped Telltale Games. Whether "some" of the team or "most" employees have been affected remains unclear at the time of writing.
Word began to circulate after former Telltale cinematic artist Jonah Huang (who has worked for both iterations of the studio) took to Twitter, alleging that Telltale had "laid most of us off early September". An NDA (non-disclosure agreement) restricted their commenting on the status of the currently in-development The Wolf Among Us 2, but you can read through Huang's entire thread for further context.
The final episode of The Expanse: A Telltale Series was only recently released on 21st September, and to hear that layoffs had already happened by that point is a bit of a gut punch. We were playing through it for review around the same time and quite liked this first effort (7/10), going on to wax poetic about how bright the future seemed for the studio before being proven naive fools mere days later.
A statement was obtained by Geoff Keighley, producer/presenter of the Game Awards, and posted to Twitter, providing further clarification. The statement in full reads:
"Due to current market conditions, we regrettably had to let some of our Telltale team go recently. We did not take this action lightly, and our commitment to storytelling and finding new ways to do so remains the same. We are grateful to everyone for their dedication along this journey, and we are working to support everyone impacted. All projects currently in development are still in production, and we have no further updates at this time."
What do you think of this series of events? Is history doomed to repeat itself? As always, we wish all the best for those affected, and you can, too, in the comments section below.
[source twitter.com, via twitter.com, ign.com]
Comments 25
It's unfortunate to hear about even more layoffs, especially at Telltale, who've had a rough few years. Is there any word on the bonus episode of The Expanse that came with the deluxe edition? I don't believe a release date was ever announced.
That's surprising that they are already laying people off. This is a new version of the old Telltale Games, and the first episode of The Expanse was released only roughly 2 months ago. Why buy the assets and agree to publish this Deck Nine developed game if they were going to lay off a lot of people working on the game they were actually developing themselves (The Wolf Among Us 2)?
@pyrrhic_victory no word, but good reminder! I'll keep an eye out
There's a reason why word is spreading about the workers in the gaming industry going on strike soon.
Really need to unionise.
A strike is coming for sure.
The industry is contracting. It's no surprise - lots of people started or increased their gaming between 2020-2022 for obvious reasons, and developers were being offered huge salary bumps as competition for talent went mad for a while. Now things are settling down again as the world has gone back to normal, and managers at devs are noticing that they are paying way too much on staff.
Telltale also has a unique problem in that all its games are licenced properties. I wonder if they'd ever be able to make something completely original that wouldn't come with licensing fees that eat into their profits.
@SillyBoyJudas In many jurisdictions they would need to unionise and hold legal ballots first before being able to go on strike. If un-unionised staff are talking about going, or purporting to go, on strike, they may find their roles are first on the chopping block when downsizing comes around. I'd be careful if I were them.
This will be an industry wide trend for a while.
Just wondering, does AI have anything to do with the recent layoffs across the industry?
One of the downsides of GaaS games, besides all of the obvious evils of gambling addiction and monetization, is that people who are addicted to never ending games like Fortnite, Destiny, Genshin Impact, FF14 etc, aren’t playing a lot of other games b/c of time constraints. When you buy a game that lasts 10,12, 20 hours, heck even a 100 hour JRPG, you play it, finish, then buy another game, so you can buy a dozen games a year. But when you spent $100 on Destiny 2 in January for the pass, well you are going to play D2 for the year.
Sure, there have always been never ending games like WoW and Minecraft, and some people played them, but some people didn’t, they played other games. But when ALL of the games being sold are never ending and have year long passes like the sports games, heck even GTA V multiplayer will seemingly never die, well who’s left that has time for Telltale games? 🤷🏻♂️
@MB81 It could, but the best answer is "it's complicated." Like there is a lot of developments as of lately that has been leading downfalls in the industry.
@rjejr It's fun to play different things and ending a game is even more fun. It's like finishing a good book with a good end. Witj GAAS there is just to much available people only have so much time. If series says it won't end then I will be moving on straight away.
@SillyBoyJudas you can only go on strike if you are in a union , i think you mean the voice actors , which can go on strike however the rest can't because there is no video game union.
@twitchtvpat I'm speaking specifically about the voice actors and motion capture actors. I wish more of the gaming industry were unionized though.
@SillyBoyJudas be careful of what you wish for , yes unions do offer protection , but they also protect people that should be fired that don't do their job.
Will anybody be employed In the game’s industry soon? AI is moving in at pace it seems.
@Flaming_Kaiser I like having both. While I prefer to spend most of my time watching or playing a good tv show or game with a good story and ending sometimes I just want to watch an episode of Big Bang Theory or play Fortnite. So I think we need both, but there are too many GaaS games now, hence so many closing down. Everybody only needs 1 GaaS game in their lives.
@rjejr One thing i really noticed that thing that end stay more fresh, fun and better in my eyes.
One of my favorite series the Haunting of Hillhouse great story no useless episodes just a good story and no useless filler.
Castlevania high quality animation with 3 seasons with a fantastic story wrapped up in a fantastic way.
Movies are a big thing now where people complain that a movie is to short if it's less then two hours especially Marvel movies. Look at the last Batman it was so long and still they could not wrap up anything I left so disappointed.
The Walking Dead the series was way too long the quality really dropped of a cliff after a few seasons.
GAAS isnt a bad thing but it's really not for me it's so boring doing the same thing every time I already have a job.
But i understand what you are saying with watching a Friend's episode or Big Bang theory. But with games it's just not for me.
@Flaming_Kaiser Nothing is for everyone, that's why there are different things. Do you really not play ANY time wasting games though? I feel like everyone plays something they do during a commute or waiting in a doctors office. Though I suppose commenting on social media like this is enough time wasting for a lot of people these days. 😂
@rjejr I drive to work that would be quite deadly and with work I just want to focus on work and read the news and some articles.
@Flaming_Kaiser Yeah don't game and drive. I've spent most of my life living in and around New York City so the 1 hour mass transit commute each way is kind of ingrained in my brain. And it's such an anti-human thing it really shouldn't be. 😝
@rjejr I can understand if you use the train or bus that it will make it a way better investment. For on the plane is just to expensive to buy it.
@Flaming_Kaiser I haven't bene on a plane in 21 years, would be a very strange investment for me. 😂
@rjejr I have to agree with you on that.
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