Adventure game studio Telltale Games infamously closed down last year, leaving to sudden game cancellations and mass layoffs for its 250 employees. LCG Entertainment has recently purchased the studio and its back catalog of games, with the hope of developing new games based on its popular brands.
“All of us were big fans of the games Telltale created, as we strongly believe in games as a storytelling medium and nobody did it better,” said Jamie Ottilie, newly appointed CEO of Telltale Games. “Even now, when you see a game with strong narrative, it’s always compared to Telltale, so it’s no surprise that players and industry colleagues alike mourned the studio’s closure. We believe there is still so much life to the brand and its franchises, and we look forward to building upon the company’s storytelling legacy.”
Telltale’s success was built upon licensed narrative adventure games such as The Walking Dead, Borderlands, and Batman. As reported by Polygon, the new Telltale currently has the rights to The Wolf Among Us and Batman adventure series, as well as original Telltale games like Puzzle Agent. Other licensed games will need to be re-negotiated.
The Walking Dead, Telltale’s most popular gaming license, spanned multiple episodic series. The final Walking Dead series was abruptly canceled midway through when Telltale shut down last year, leaving Skybound Entertainment to swoop in and finish it. The license now belongs to Skybound (founded by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman), so it’s unlikely Telltale will be making any more Walking Dead games.
Original Telltale Games team members have been hired or contracted as freelancers. Whether this new Telltale Games can reach the heights of success of the original studio remains to be seen.
