Telltale Games

Telltale Games was an American based video game developer based in California. Opening in 2004, Telltale went on to produce many popular video games, such as the Walking Dead series and The Wolf Among Us. After the success of the Walking Dead series, Telltale quickly went from a small studio of developers to a studio containing 250-300+ employees. On September 21st, 2018, Telltale’s then CEO Pete Hawley announced that Telltale was laying off anywhere from 225 to 250 employees as the studio suffered from low sales of its newest releases.

Telltale Games has been accused of having a toxic work culture which ultimately lead to key developers leaving the organization. Reportedly, the studio was unable to properly adapt to the mass new hires and immense success of their Walking Dead franchise. This apparently lead to a culture of crunch and clashes between lead developers and upper management.

Telltale Games Reopening

On August 28th, 2019, LCG entertainment announced that it would be purchasing and reopening Telltale studios. In a statement, LCG entertainment and Telltale games announced the intent of re-releasing games that Telltale was unable to complete and continuing previous successful franchises.

Media Coverage:

• Megan Farokhmanesh on The Verge: Mar 20, 2018: Toxic management cost an award-winning game studio its best developers

• Ben Parfitt on Games Industry: Mar 21, 2018: Former Telltale developers accuse studio of breeding toxicity

• Rebekah Valentine on Games Industry: Sept 21, 2018: Mass layoffs reported at Telltale Games

• Matthew Handrahan on Games Industry: Sept 24, 2018: Telltale’s treatment of staff “a problematic endemic in the industry”

• Colin Campbell on Polygon: Aug 28th, 2019: Telltale Games is being revived

• Telltale Announcement on Telltale Games: Aug 28th, 2019: Press Release: The New Management Team & Publishing Partner Athlon Games to Reissue Select Back Catalog and New Installments of Beloved IPs