Layoffs at Telltale Games

[SniperHF]

Over expansion?

Telltale Games restructures, cuts 90 staff

Telltale Games, the episodic games developer behind hits like The Walking Dead and Minecraft Story Mode, has unfortunately announced a round of layoffs today, cutting 25% of its workforce, impacting 90 individuals effective immediately.

Always seemed to me that outside of their 3 big hits (arguably only one given that the other two didn't sell more till discounts kicked in) that their reputation was greater than their actual reach into gaming.

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[Oscar Acosta]

Been playing a few lately, just finished off Guardians of the Galaxy today...

With that game it got really boring around episode 4. Very little action or anything to do but sit around and have long cinematic chats to progress the story. Final battle was short and again you end up spending more time chatting after it than you do actually playing a game. Animation, voice acting and so on is great but people want to actually play, not watch a 12 hour long cartoon.

I will say that the Batman series is great though. Lots of action, detective moments, etc. But here lies their other problem - releasing games in parts. I get into it, and then have to wait an unknown amount of time for the next part. Is it a month or 3? I don't know, they don't say and they don't tell you if and when you can play it again. By that point I imagine a lot of people moved on to other games.

Like Guardians of the Galaxy saw it get released, waited on a huge price drop for the season pass, and then waited and waited to even start playing it. Got lucky with the timing as I finished episode 4 two days before episode 5 came out Tuesday. Looked it up the game came out in April. That's 6 months between start and finish, with periods there were no new episodes for 2 months at a time. That's a really good way to kill any and all momentum people might have.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

The smaller the better probably for them.

Walking dead season 1 was great as was the wolf among us

Walking dead season 2 and borderlands and Minecraft were good

The others I didn’t play or they were bad

 

[Lady Santa]

From choices that don’t really matter, to mediocre game play, to endings that feel uninspired, I want to love the idea of a TT game, but it feels like they’ve been releasing quantity over quality.

Walking Dead season 1 enchanted me. It was great.

Season 2 disappointed me. So did Batman, Michone, Wolf Among Us, Game of Thrones.

I hear Borderlands is really good.

No point getting new ones at full price when only one episode is out at release, and they’re at 50% off months later.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I think over expansion is probably true. The probably also need to update their engine, as it's really starting to show.

I like Telltale games, although I've only really played Batman and Borderlands. They are nice TV-like break from other types of games.

 

[PeteWorrell]

It's obvious that the company is mismanaged and that they didn't understand why The Walking Dead season 1 was so well-received.People loved it because of writing.The relationship between Clementine and Lee was the center of the story and it was very well-executed.

So what do they do?They start buying as many licenses as possible and throw them on the market like shovel ware.So of course the writing suffered and people quickly realized it.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

They should have focused on the big name games like Game Of Thrones. That was a gold mine for them since nobody has done it yet with much success. Instead they focus on too many minor projects and now it cost them.

 

[tmurfin]

Been playing a few lately, just finished off Guardians of the Galaxy today...

With that game it got really boring around episode 4. Very little action or anything to do but sit around and have long cinematic chats to progress the story. Final battle was short and again you end up spending more time chatting after it than you do actually playing a game. Animation, voice acting and so on is great but people want to actually play, not watch a 12 hour long cartoon.

I will say that the Batman series is great though. Lots of action, detective moments, etc. But here lies their other problem - releasing games in parts. I get into it, and then have to wait an unknown amount of time for the next part. Is it a month or 3? I don't know, they don't say and they don't tell you if and when you can play it again. By that point I imagine a lot of people moved on to other games.

Like Guardians of the Galaxy saw it get released, waited on a huge price drop for the season pass, and then waited and waited to even start playing it. Got lucky with the timing as I finished episode 4 two days before episode 5 came out Tuesday. Looked it up the game came out in April. That's 6 months between start and finish, with periods there were no new episodes for 2 months at a time. That's a really good way to kill any and all momentum people might have.

Whole heartily agree. I played TWD season 1 all at once and absolutely loved it. Bought the first episode of 2, and by time the 2nd dropped I had already lost interest.. Shame, I've been meaning to get back into it.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

As far as “choose your own adventure” games go, Telltale has fallen behind. Games like Life is Strange or Until Dawn have done it better. Telltale’s formula is just too predictable and their engine outdated. We’ll see where the company heads now, but I’m doubtful it’ll be a positive direction after these layoffs.