After being shut down last year, Telltale Games is making a comeback, just not in the way you’d expect.
A company called LCG Entertainment has purchased Telltale’s assets and is planning to revive the studio. The new studio is headed by Jamie Ottilie and Brian Waddle, two men who haven’t been associated with Telltale Games until now. Ottilie has done a lot of work in the mobile space, founding the company Galaxy Pest Control, which is best known for licensed games based on Duck Dynasty and Power Rangers. Waddle worked marketing and sales for the Havok game engine.
Polygon spoke to Ottilie, who shared a little bit about the plans to restart Telltale. The new Telltale Games has the rights to two of the company’s back-catalog series, Batman and The Wolf Among Us, as well as rights to Telltale’s original properties such as Puzzle Agent. As for Telltale Games that ended without satisfying conclusions, Ottilie said that they’re “still evaluating,” but they “definitely want to continue some of the stories.” The Walking Dead is a notable omission, but that license is now owned by Skybound, which has its own plans for The Walking Dead video games. As for other Telltale licenses like Game of Thrones and Borderlands, nothing has been announced, and in regards to Telltale’s plans to release a Stranger Things game, Ottilie said the rights have been reverted back to Netflix.
Despite having access to Telltale’s licenses and back-catalog, the new company is Telltale in name only. The new studio is headquartered in Malibu, California, 400 miles away from the original studio’s headquarters in San Rafael. Ottilie stated that some original Telltale employees will be offered freelance roles, with full-time positions possible in the future. With a new location and the majority of the original staff not being offered full-time jobs, this is a new studio with the same branding.
Ottilie spoke about Telltale’s episodic model and the changes that might be made to the formula as well. “We will probably keep the concept of episodes but with different pacing,” said Ottilie. “This is a different world, from a media consumption standpoint. We need to look at how people like to entertain themselves. I like the idea of binge watching.” Nothing is concrete at the moment, but this hints at a shift to a different release schedule than Telltale fans might be used to.
Now that the rights to Telltale’s old games have been reacquired, the new studio plans to relist some of the old games on digital storefronts. Many have been delisted in the months following Telltale’s closure, although it’s unclear just how many series will be returning.
“They brought me some of my favorite stories to play and they did an amazing job building a company,” Ottilie told Polygon. “It’s unfortunate the way that it ended. Certainly we’re working very hard not to make similar mistakes.”
