Telltale cuts jobs at US studio and newly acquired Flavourworks

06.10.2023 - 17:39 / polygon.com

The Wolf Among Us 2 developer Telltale Games confirmed layoffs at the company “due to market conditions,” but said all its in-development projects are still in the works.

“Due to current market conditions, we regrettably had to let some of our Telltale team go recently,” a Telltale Games representative said in an emailed statement to Polygon. “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. All projects currently in development are still in production, and we have no further updates at this time.’

A company representative declined to share the scope of the layoffs after former cinematic artist Jonah Huang, who worked at both iterations of Telltale Games (before the 2018 layoffs, and when the studio was revived in 2019), posted to social media that “most” of the team was laid off in early September. One source said the internal Telltale Games team was under 10 people and that the majority were laid off.

The layoffs extend into Telltale Games’ newly acquired Flavourworks, which was brought under the Telltale Games umbrella in August. Flavourworks is a London-based interactive video company that uses its TouchVideo technology to create full-motion video games, like Erica, a thriller that was released in 2019. Both Telltale Games and Flavourworks are at least partially funded by Hiro Capital, which posits itself as a games and metaverse funder.

Three sources told Polygon that Flavourworks had roughly 12 people employed at the time of the acquisition, most of whom were given redundancy letters just weeks after the announcement — notices required by U.K. law to let workers know their jobs are at risk. At that time, Flavourworks leadership told employees that the company only had cash to fund three more months of work, but that they were looking for additional, new funding. A handful of workers were laid off in the weeks that followed, and the layoffs will continue into December, the people said, if new funding isn’t secured. Telltale Games has not yet responded to Polygon’s inquiry specifically into Flavourworks.

The Flavourworks team was reportedly siloed off from Telltale Games. Sources told Polygon that the Flavourworks team was never given the chance to integrate into the company’s workflow, which gave workers reason to believe something was up — despite the initial excitement to have been acquired by such a notable studio as Telltale Games. The speed of the situation left workers confused: How are we even in this position, so soon after an acquisition?

The Expanse: A Telltale Series, developed in collaboration with