At this point, everyone is aware of the news regarding Telltale. The studio laid off a majority of its staff, leaving a skeleton crew in its place. This team of 25 people is the only one remaining to fill out the company’s remaining obligations. After that, Telltale Games will be no more. While this means so many talented people are currently without jobs, it also means the last true champion of the adventure game genre is no more. Which is a damn shame.
Rising From The Ashes
The Telltale we all know first truly began with the Sam & Max series of games. At this point, Telltale was simply interested in reviving the since-dormant adventure game genre made famous by LucasArts. This began a trend of the studio adapting licensed properties for their games. Properties like Wallace & Gromit and Monkey Island (perhaps the most iconic adventure game series) were some of Telltale’s earliest efforts. They may not have given Telltale the kind of acclaim they would see later in life, but it was the laid the ground for what was to come.
Telltale offered unique takes on familiar characters.
Telltale managed to hit it big with some of the biggest pop-culture franchises in the world: Jurassic Park and Back to the Future. Now, neither of these games were particularly great, but it brought a whole new awareness to Telltale. Following the releases of these titles, Telltale announced it had acquired the right to yet another entertainment property: The Walking Dead. The announcement was made in 2011, less than a year after The Walking Dead television show premiered. The eventual release of Telltale’s The Walking Dead could best be described as the perfect storm.
legal troubles. But that’s not what this is about. This is to celebrate the legacy of a studio that tried to do something different. It tried to keep a dying genre afloat, and did so much more. True, maybe it had peaked too early with The Walking Dead, and yes, many of their later projects just simply suffered a decline in quality. But that doesn’t mean what Telltale did to the gaming industry should be diminished.
Telltale’s characters and stories are some of the best in the industry.
Without Telltale, we would have never seen Clem grow from a scared little girl to a hardened survivor. We would have never seen John Doe become the Joker (or maybe not). We would have never been able to help Bigby solve a grisly murder in Fabletown. Telltale paved the way for games like Life is Strange, a critical and popular darling. And again, Telltale allowed adventure games to once again be in the spotlight, if even briefly.
We here at Culture of Gaming sincerely wish the best for everyone affected by these layoffs, and we hope you find you can find work soon. All former Telltale employees are strongly encouraged to search #TelltaleJobs on Twitter. Thank you Telltale, and everyone who helped make its stories, you will be deeply missed.
