Telltale Games Being Revived By People Who Didn't Work at Original Studio

Telltale Games closure was devastating to both fans and those who worked at the studio. It meant the long-awaited titles such as The Wolf Among Us 2 would never release but most importantly, everyone at the studio was either let go without severance or left to finish the Minecraft Netflix series before they were let go.

The gaming industry banded together to offer those now unemployed positions at their company. With Ubisoft hosting an entire event, providing food and opportunities, to all former staff at Telltale Games.

As reported by Kotaku's Jason Schrier, a group of investors has secured the rights to the name and some of its licenses with plans to revive the company. 

Today, Jamie Ottilie and Brian Waddle, two men who did not work at Telltale Games, told press that they had secured the rights to the company’s name and some of its licenses, and that they will be reviving the company in Malibu, California. (The original one was located in San Rafael, California, which is 400 miles northwest.) Ottilie’s background is in mobile licensed development (Duck Dynasty, Power Rangers) while Waddle worked at the outsourcing company Virtuos and the physics software maker Havoc. The money for this venture is coming from a publisher called Athlon Games, a subsidiary of the Chinese video game holding company Leyou, as well as a group of executives who have worked for game publishers like Rebellion and Starbreeze.

According to Polygon, who reached out to Ottilie, they plan to re-sell older Telltale titles and that some of the workers from the original company would be rehired as "freelance". Given that the original staff was unceremoniously terminated this seems like rubbing salt on their wounds.

This isn't a revival, Jamie Ottilie and Brian Waddle, now own Telltale Games, confirmed with Polygon they own the IPs The Wolf Among Us and Batman. Those expecting a new The Walking Dead, the series that catapulted Telltale Games' shouldn't expect it. As that IP is now owned by Skybound after they purchased it when Telltale closed down and finished The Walking Dead: The Final Season. The status of previous Telltale licenses such as Borderlands, Game of Thrones, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Minecraft has not been declared.
Adam Siddiqui,
Senior Editor, NoobFeed
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