Press Release By Telltale Staff
August 28, 2019 2:57 am
LOS ANGELES – AUGUST 28, 2019 – LCG Entertainment, a holding company that will be doing business as Telltale Games, today announced that it has purchased the defunct studio’s key assets, trademarks, technology, and select intellectual properties with the intent of re-releasing select games from the studio’s back catalog and developing new games in some of the company’s best-selling brands.
The purchase, led by Jamie Ottilie and Brian Waddle, was made possible by a pool of investors and advisors comprised of well-known names in the games industry including Chris Kingsley, Lyle Hall, Tobias Sjögren, Athlon Games (as a shareholder and publishing partner), and several additional partners.
Rest of the Press Release:
Spoiler
Originally founded in 2004, Telltale Games became synonymous with storytelling, pioneering the episodic game format, and changing the way the games medium embraced narrative. Following a string of successful and award-winning game series based on television and film licenses and original IPs, the game developer and publisher shuttered in October of last year, leaving disappointed fans in its wake.
“All of us were big fans of the games Telltale created, as we strongly believe in games as a storytelling medium and nobody did it better,” said Jamie Ottilie, CEO of the new Telltale Games. “Even now, when you see a game with strong narrative, it’s always compared to Telltale, so it’s no surprise that players and industry colleagues alike mourned the studio’s closure. We believe there is still so much life to the brand and its franchises, and we look forward to building upon the company’s storytelling legacy.”
The new Telltale Games will be headquartered in Malibu with a satellite office in Corte Madera, California. Day-to-day operations will be handled by Ottilie and Waddle, with Ottilie responsible for studio management and technology, and Waddle running business development, finance, and operations. Both will work closely with Athlon, who will serve as the marketing and publishing partner on most of the company’s back catalog and new releases, freeing up Telltale to focus on development and studio growth.
Key talent from the original company has been hired or contracted by the new Telltale. The new company will be based on a streamlined structure with plans for strategic growth and a focus on its core and new IP’s. No further details are being released about the Telltale assets purchase price. News regarding the reissue of specific back catalog titles and new games in existing IP’s will be announced in the coming weeks.
“There is still a huge fanbase of Telltale players and that’s one of the main reasons we decided to make this investment,” said Brian Waddle, chief revenue officer for the new Telltale Games. “It’s hard to see your favorite games disappear or not get the sequels they deserve, so we thank everyone for their patience and support. We’ve got some exciting things to share soon. We’ll try not to keep them waiting too long, but we think fans will be pleased.”
GameDaily Connect is hosting a fireside chat with Jamie Ottilie discussing the relaunch of Telltale Games today at its conference at 4:30 pm in the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, California. To learn more about the new Telltale Games, please visit www.Telltale.com.
About LCG Entertainment/Telltale Games
LCG Entertainment is a privately held company, headquartered in Malibu with a satellite studio in Corte Madera, California. LCG Entertainment owns the brand, assets and various IP from the original Telltale Games company. Formerly an award-winning independent developer and publisher of both original and licensed IP games for every major interactive platform, Telltale Games pioneered the episodic delivery of digital gaming content.
Initially founded in 2004, Telltale won numerous accolades for its best-selling game series, including The Walking Dead, Batman: The Telltale Series, The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands, and more. LCG Entertainment will be operating and marketing games under the Telltale brand going forward. For more information on the new Telltale Games, please visit www.telltale.com.
About Athlon Games
Athlon Games, a subsidiary of Leyou Technologies Holdings Limited, is a global publisher of free- to-play console and PC games headquartered in Los Angeles. Athlon Games combines its expertise in free-to-play console and PC games with Western development to create AAA cooperative console and PC experiences that gamers will want to play for many years.
https://www.telltale.com/press-release/ <–SourceE
This is a sad day indeed. Or is it, a beautiful turn of events? It is never a good day to hear that a game dev closes its doors, but it is ok to hear that the company has been picked up and had its assets and ip acquired. The issue at this point is, what assets ?
While STEAM and GOG.com and other note worthy digital distribution companies have pulled all ” tell tale ” signs of the games from their store fronts except of course for EPIC games and their ” Epic ” launcher and digital distribution. They still have the games available, but you will note that the Tales of the walking dead series is still being developed as Skybound games has rounded up Telltales crew to finish The walking dead before it is Left for dead.
2K games has stated it is going to do it’s best to secure and re-introduce the ” tales from the borderlands” series and will support all previous purchases.
2K has this to say:
Spoiler
“We are working to get Tales from the Borderlands back up on digital storefronts as soon as possible,” a 2K spokesperson told us. “All prior digital purchases of the game will of course still be honoured and supported.”
I have to say, the worst of this happening is, what happens to The Fun Pimps? Oh, let me guess, you didn’t know about this one? TFP are the developers of 7 Days to Die. A zombie survival game that has been in alpha for soo long, they are still fighting the battle of Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor.
But seriously, TFP had sold rights to develop their game for console and in this unfortunate standing, Console players do not get updates as regularly as PC does. In fact, as I have spoken to some console players, they say that it seems they are still on the ALPHA 15 release with a sprinkling of Alpha 16 tossed in.
Now, they may NEVER get an update. While it has been confirmed, (denied, confirmed and denied, then confirmed again) that the IP has been acquired, it still stands to reason that currently there are no Tell Tale signs that 7 days to die will receive any love from it’s new owners. If TFP were smart, they would get in with the new owners, correct everything that has gone wrong and update the console as this could only HELP the monetization of the game and assist TFP in making money.
So to make this clear:
Skybound games now has the license to The Walking Dead.
LCG Entertainment ( TELL TALE GAMES new owner) has licensing to almost everything else in TT’s games catalogue and are looking to get some of the back catalogue as well.
7 days to die will most likely be left 4 dead unless TFP can get involved.
What is a zombie survivalist to do.
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