Narrative adventure developer Telltale Games, the studio currently working on The Wolf Among Us 2 and which just released The Expanse: A Telltale Series, has undergone layoffs which one former employee says impacted “most of” the studio.
The news first circulated via a post on X (formerly Twitter) by former Telltale cinematic artist Jonah Huang, who said that these layoffs took place in early September:
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, I can’t say (NDA).
Now, I focus on what matters to me—my own game, and the following words:
Games industry, we must UNIONIZE.
1/5
— jjonahjonahson (@jjonahjonahson) October 5, 2023
Telltale has confirmed that it has undergone layoffs in a statement sent to IGN, but did not confirm the number or extent. Its statement is as follows:
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.
Notably, Huang was part of the first iteration of Telltale Games as well, which similarly underwent significant layoffs before closing entirely in 2019. The shutdown was attributed to investors backing out, but a year later, LCG Entertainment revived the business name and several of its assets, hiring a number of its former workers as well. At The Game Awards in 2019, it announced it was creating a sequel to Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us for a planned release in 2023. Then earlier this year, we sat down with Telltale CEO Jamie Ottlie, who explained the game was being delayed due to struggles porting it from Unreal Engine 4 to 5 and a desire to avoid crunch. It does not currently have a new release date.
As Huang notes, these layoffs seem to have happened just weeks after Telltale acquired UK-based studio Flavourworks.
These layoffs come as part of an ongoing trend of industry mass layoffs that have impacted a number of major studios this year and last. These include layoffs at Naughty Dog, Team 17, Ascendant, Blizzard, BioWare, Epic Games, Blackbird Interactive, Striking Distance, BioWare again, Ubisoft, Scavengers Studio, CD Projekt, Embracer Group’s numerous subsidiaries, Deviation Games, The Molasses Flood, Relic Entertainment, Xbox, Riot Games, Unity, and many more.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
