UPDATE:
Telltale has officially confirmed the layoffs in a statement posted on their Twitter account. They explained that due to “current market conditions,” they unfortunately had to let go of some of their team members. They expressed their commitment to storytelling and finding new ways to do so, and assured that all projects currently in development are still progressing.
Original Story:
A former developer from Telltale Games, Jonah Huang (known as J Jonah Jonahson on Twitter), recently revealed that Telltale, along with other studios in the industry, laid off a number of employees last month. Huang stated in a tweet, “This is a sore subject, but I feel it necessary to add to the gaming layoff news: Telltale laid most of us off early September. Status of TWAU2 [The Wolf Among Us 2], I can’t say (NDA).”
Huang added that he signed a severance agreement with Telltale, which prevented him from causing harm to the company’s business. However, he clarified that speaking about being laid off is within his rights and not an attempt to harm the company.
This news comes at a time when the gaming industry has been facing numerous mass layoffs, even at major companies. Huang raising awareness about the Telltale situation seems to be part of a larger call for the industry to unionize.
Huang also shared that he rejoined Telltale because he was passionate about working on The Wolf Among Us 2, as a fan of the original game. Unfortunately, the team working on it was small. Telltale has not made any public announcement regarding these layoffs, which occurred a few weeks after their acquisition of UK-based studio Flavourworks.
The fact that The Wolf Among Us 2 is being made at all was quite surprising to fans, considering Telltale’s previous closure. While its return has been exciting, there is still concern that history might repeat itself.
In their first game since the return, The Expanse: A Telltale Story, the studio was praised by PSU for being in “fine form,” although some pacing issues were noted. Huang expressed his desire for Telltale to succeed and called on fellow game developers to fight for better conditions.
Source – JJonahJonahson on Twitter
