Telltale Games confirms layoffs
by Danny Craig
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Telltale Games
Telltale Games has confirmed that several employees were laid off last month after former employees were reported to have spoken publicly about the layoffs.
The details:
- Former Telltale cinematic artist Jonah Huang revealed the layoffs on his X account, calling for the gaming industry to unionize. "This is a sore subject, but I feel it necessary to add to the gaming layoff news: Telltale laid most of us off early September," Huang wrote on X. Later in the thread, the artist stated that he had signed an agreement with the studio "not to cause any harm to Telltale's business" as part of his severance package, but that he could still speak on behalf of being laid off.
- Telltale later confirmed the reported layoffs in a statement to Geoff Keighley, confirming that staff had been laid off but that development on The Wolf Among Us 2 would continue. "Due to current market conditions, we regrettably had to let some of our Telltale team go recently. We did not take this action lightly, and our commitment to storytelling and finding new ways to do so remains the same,” the studio said. “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.“
- It is unknown how many employees were laid off; however, Huang stated that "most" of the company's employees were let go. It's unclear whether Huang meant the entire company or the Wolf Among Us 2 team, which he describes as "very small.”
Other recent layoffs:
- Following the recent departure of the company's CEO, Worms developer Team17 is reportedly expecting significant layoffs. An undisclosed number of employees will be affected across multiple departments, around 50 of whom belong to the QA team.
- The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog is reportedly letting go of contracted employees across a variety of departments. An anonymous source within the company claims that employees have been pressured to keep quiet about the situation, with those affected expected to work until the end of October.