Telltale confirms layoffs after Wolf Among Us 2 dev's claim "most of" team affected

06.10.2023 - 00:53 / eurogamer.net

Telltale Games, the resurrected studio behind the likes of The Expanse: A Telltale Series and the upcoming The Wolf Among Us 2, has confirmed layoffs at the studio, after a former employee shared a message on social media claiming «most of» his team had been let go last month.

News of layoffs at Telltale began circulating after cinematic artist Jonah Huang — who's worked at the studio in both its current and original incarnation, which closed down in 2018 — claimed the studio «laid most of us off early September».

Huang also appeared to imply further troubles for The Wolf Among Us 2 — which was originally due to release this year before Telltale pushed it back into 2024 to avoid burnout and crunch — saying he couldn't comment on the status of its development due to a binding NDA.

«Our team was very small,» he added, «and I was genuinely excited for the game. Telltale has yet to publicise any of what has happened.»

Now, though, responding to a query from Eurogamer, Telltale has confirmed job losses at the studio. «Due to current market conditions, we regrettably had to let some of our Telltale team go recently,» it explained. «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.»

Telltale did not reveal the number of employees affected by the layoffs, but did provide comment on the status of its games. «All projects currently in development are still in production,» it confirmed, «and we have no further updates at this time.» That would at least imply The Wolf Among Us 2 remains in production despite recent job losses at the studio.

«I want to end on this note,» Huang concluded, «I do not want Telltale to fail. I genuinely want to see it succeed. Telltale gave me a good deal this time around, but still, it ended the same way most jobs in games end: a layoff, not a retirement. I ask my fellow game devs to fight for better.»

Today's news follows Telltale's announcement in August that it had acquired narrative adventure developer Flavourworks, the UK-based studio behind FMV game Erica.