“Telltale Games” Name and Some Licenses Acquired by New Investors
In a surprise move, the studio name of “Telltale Games,” along with some of the studio’s old licenses have been acquired by new investors. While this could lead to the return of some of the studio’s delisted games to retail platforms, the news does not necessarily the return of the studio as it was. However, the new owners do hope to eventually develop games in the style that Telltale was known for.
What Does This Acquisition Mean for Telltale Games?
Telltale Games’ name and licenses were recently acquired by investors Jamie Ottilie and Brian Waddle. The pair announced to press that they intended to re-establish the company. However, the studio will be in Malibu, some 400 miles away from its former home in San Rafael. Neither Ottilie nor Waddle ever worked at Telltale Games, and while speaking to Polygon about the news, Ottilie said; “that some workers from the original Telltale Games will be offered freelance roles, with full-time positions possible in the future”. Not exactly an encouraging proposition for the studio’s former staff.
In fact, Ottilie’s background is in developing licensed mobile games. Meanwhile, Waddle previously ran marketing and sales for the Havok game engine. The financial backing for the acquisition of Telltale Games is principally coming from Athlon Games, a studio owned by Leyou Technologies Holdings, a Chinese video game holding company. Athlon Games will be handling the distribution of the new Telltale Games’ titles, as well as their online storefront. Other financial backers include several gaming industry executives from studios like Rebellion, Starbreeze, and Heavy Iron Studios.
Old Telltale Games Returning to Digital Stores?
Speaking with Polygon, Ottilie did state that there were plans to re-sell some of Telltale Games’ old games; presumably those for which they have acquired licenses, including Wolf Among Us and Batman. Many of these games were de-listed from online stores following the collapse of the studio last year. However, some games have no real chance of returning, as the licenses are now the property of other companies. The Walking Dead license is now a property of Skybound, for example, while a license to create a Stranger Things game has since gone back to Netflix.
Ottilie also said that the studio will be starting small; “We’re going to stay small over the next six months,” said Ottilie; “and we will work for more of a distributed development pipeline than Telltale was known for“. However, he did confirm that the studio would attempt to make games like those the studio was known for. Such games may look to adopt new release formats; “We will probably keep the concept of episodes but with different pacing,” says Ottilie; “This is a different world, from a media consumption standpoint. We need to look at how people like to entertain themselves.”