The Rise and Fall of Telltale Games: Death of the Storyteller
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- čas přidán 28. 06. 2024
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Telltale has closed their doors and ceased operations. You’ve probably played at least one of their games released in the past 14 years.
Solve puzzles, engage in conversation, make choices, and guide a story through branching paths across multiple episodes. Telltale had such brand recognition in this style of game that they were almost a generic term, like Aspirin, Escalator, Dumpster and Velcro. And in fact their closure doesn’t mean that people won’t continue to use their name to evoke a certain kind of game experience.
Whether you enjoy the Telltale-style Adventure Game or you think they’re buggy cookie-cutter fan-bait that relies on popular licenses to push sales, the fact is that they are responsible for bringing episodic games to their current level of acceptance.
This wasn’t always the case, however.
Written, Edited, & Narrated by MRIXRT
#Telltale #reallycool #mrixrt
Special Thanks ►
TheGoldenBolt's "Telltale Game Review Formula": • Batman: The Telltale S...
Sources ►
TheVerge: www.theverge.com/2018/3/20/17...
USGamer: www.usgamer.net/articles/excl...
GamesIndustry.biz (Toxic Workplace): www.gamesindustry.biz/article...
VentureBeat: venturebeat.com/2018/09/21/ou...
DualShockers: www.dualshockers.com/telltale...
GamesIndustry.biz (Ubisoft): www.gamesindustry.biz/article...
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What Killed Telltale Games? (mrixrt)
• The Rise and Fall of T...
MRIXRT
/ reallycool - Hry
In several interviews, Bruner actually said something along the lines of: "This is why I do these kind of games." or "My choice of games is blah blah" so he was definitely not shy about it. I remember an interview where he basically was saying he, alone, invented the genre. No wonder, a lot of the talent left.
Unfortunately, several people exist like him in the industry. Here's hope at least the Telltale story would be educational to others.
If nothing else, we should hope that TTG will bring attention to crunch culture.
You know what, I wasn't broken up by Telltale's shuttering, outside of feeling for the employees. After seeing them continue to over the course of a half-decade become a walking, breathing husk of a developer in real-time, after watching how TWD S1 essentially singlehandedly changed the industry, I wasn't surprised or saddened. But this, *this* video brought it all back to day one (or at least, my day one). I'm still not upset, I'm actively _angry_ that nobody within Telltale had the foresight to prevent this exact scenario from happening, because goddammit, they deserved better than Bruner's vision. I've gotta remember to share this around tomorrow, because this video might be the most effective you've made yet.
I really appreciate that vote of confidence :)
The Wolf Among Us is my favorite Telltale game.
The story really gripped me.
Same! The Wolf Among Us is great. I hope the sequel doesn't suck.
Based on an excellent graphic novel series called Fabels
I am shocked that this channel doesn't get more views. Your videos are amazing.
I played the first 5 chapters of Minecraft story mode when those released. They were fine but short. But I think the rise of storytelling with fun gameplay (tlou, spider-man, god of war, uncharted 4, etc.) just made people forget the magic in these games. Now that they’re gone, I really want to play through the walking dead and experience what made them so great.
The fact that Telltale was working on a Game of Thrones Season Two is news to me. Don't know how that would've turned out considering the state of GOT at the time.
7:19 Telltale's graphics were always generally subpar compared to other large games, but I think seeing these listed one after another shows that Walking Dead had someone smart on that team that knew how to make a graphic style that worked with their limitations... the sketchy comic-book style textures and general art design made it look clearly much better than their previous games.
Yes, it's CZcamsrs' faults for showing the complete experience for free*! That's why NO OTHER GAME EVER has made money!
Yeah, I think it's a knee-jerk response to try to blame anything except the real faults.
youtube belongs to google, so google will blocks these kind of answers although it is true.
Great vid. Deserves more views
Thank you. if you enjoy it, consider sharing it
First of all your videos are FANTASTIC! Very informative and well written. How you haven't blown up is beyond me.
I thought I was a big telltale games fan but I think I was just attracted to their potential. Aside from WD 1&2 and The Wolf Among Us, they all felt lackluster. If your decisions could ACTUALLY matter it would have made the whole thing much more intense. They told a couple good stories but it was around the first Batman game when I realized they would never evolve into what I wanted them to me5, or even evolve at all.
Thank you =) If you like us, share us! It's the only way we grow.
Walking Dead Season 1 and The Wolf Among Us are the Telltale games that really stand the test of time. TWAU is a game that was better than TWD, to me. I tell everyone about it.
i recommand people go and listen to the old developer commentaries telltale made for thier older games, that got posted when tt shut down due to them most likly getting lost. it is clear in them they had a passion for what they did. then post wds1 happpend and they just got drained .
This is an incredible video and I’m shocked it has such low views. I hope algorithm blesses you soon.
It may.
I learned a ton about telltale that I never knew. Amazing video as always, keep it up!!!
I try =) Thanks for the kind words, Bii
Im trying so hard to pay attention at the begging of the video, but Gabe beating the absolute snot out of Javier in the background, is so emotional yet so distracting lol
Man that's a lot of information! I did not know they go this far.
Glad you found something interesting =D
Excellent job! Subscribed
Appreciate it =)
Telltale is back now🥳
really good video, this deserves more views
Thank you! If you like it, please consider sharing it!
I'm afraid the episodic and infrequent nature of the releases was a big part of the problem. I played virtually all and very much enjoyed the Telltale games, although some more than others. The problem is that there was literally no incentive to buy them until the entire season was out. After the full season was out, there really wasn't any reason to not just wait for a sale within a couple months. I basically never paid more than about $10 for a Telltale game. If they would have offered the full season before the first release with a big discount (basically the Kickstarter model), I would have given them quite a bit more money and much earlier, and maybe they would still exist.
Other than TWD S1 and LiS, I never played them 'episodically' either. I always waited for the full release because I knew they'd offer a steam sale at 40% off or something.
tellltale's original reason why they went episodic was it was easier to make an adventure game that way. when their style of games changed it became a crutch.
This is a really good video! I had no idea what Telltale was up to before The Walking Dead. I kinda stopped caring about what they released after Tales from the Borderlands. I guess not changing up their formula ran was a constant theme for the company though.
Thanks Z! They did a lot of stuff, and some of it was really good, but the lack of innovation and unwillingness to experiment is something only EA can get away with.
Funny thing, Tales from the Borderlands and Guardians of the Galaxy might be my favourites of theirs. Because they don't take themselves seriously enough to take a massive hit from somewhat nonsensical writing, and the humour is excellent. The finger shootout in Borderlands might be just about the most hilarious thing I've ever seen.
Granted, D4 was a much better game in that vein, and it's not by Telltale. But the writer became a monk (for 3 months or so), in the meanwhile the studio fell apart, so it will never be completed.
@@SianaGearz I totally agree. I think Tales from the Borderlands was my favorite of all Telltale's games if I had to choose 1.
I feel like majority of this was poor management.
That's my feeling as well
CryMor Gaming I also heard stuff like Kevin Bruner treated his employees really bad and that they ruined The Walking Dead: Season 2.
Bruner is a good portion of this video.
CryMor Gaming Agreed and then he sued the company for damages and stuff.
And is sad because the games I love will never be updated. Especially the console version of 7 days to die.
The Wolf Among Us I felt like was the last time Telltale ever gave a shit about what they made.
I have yet to play the first two seasons of TWD, but I have played a Telltale-genre game that is LiS. I like the feel of how our own decision-making alters the storyline, and it’s definitely a genre I would like to get more into. It’s indeed a disappointment to see TTG closing its doors and how the employees were treated. I wishing nothing but the best for them. I hope the genre continues to grow for more exciting games to come.
I really recommend the first season of TWD. Probably cheap now.
I already own the first two seasons, I just have not gotten to playing them yet. I’m hoping to start it once I have a better streaming schedule.
Rest in peace.
11:56 to 12:48
This is the reason Telltale died summed up in less than a minute. In three words: Bad business decisions.
What’s your opinion on the developers that have picked up old TellTale licenses? Like Skunkape? And have remastered the first two Sam and Max seasons. I know their formed from ex TellTale employees who worked on the games and personally I think it’s a good idea to take them and breath new life into them. As well as the re-release of the 4 Walking Dead seasons, the first 2 being remastered in an updated engine by someone else.
I'm pretty neutral until they actually release something
what music is playing in the end?
their walking dead game is a core game from my childhood
It genuinely made me cry at end. I was like 12
i bought most of their games damn shame they are gone
So, in short, the reason they failed was because of the co-founder's jealousy and unwillingness to let other people have creative control and complete their vision.
though with drawbacks, all their game was really really good compared to other games in industry. Their death is a tragic...........
Their management is a nightmare!
Yeah. It'd be different if this came from one or two people, but when most of the 250 people laid off say the same thing, it really cements how bad it must have been to work for him.
It turns out you cant pack a flash web series in a blu-ray and sell it as a game. They were hacks.
they made actual good games up to the wds 1. they were not hacks. they suffered what most devs suffer from. talent left and the passion was gone due to management.
I hope people like Bruner never get far in life
dude studio did better than the New telltale game release even though it were a decknine game
Yup these types of games don't do well in the age of CZcams. I was going to buy Walking dead, but I just watched it on YT and saved some money. I also did the same thing with Minecraft, Firewatch, and many more Telltale type games over the years. These games are more like movies, so I'm surprised they don't copy right these types of games past an hour of gameplay. If they did, I would've bought it, because I really enjoyed the parts of the game I saw and would want to know how it all ends.
Kevin Bruner and Brenna McNamara should have a face off.
if anything telltlae willl live on through night school studios. they were formed by former telltale and they have time to make the games they want to make. and choices actually mattter.
We mentioned them briefly in this video, yeah.
Not played any of these 😜
From NewTubers 'Cord.
Word
Word..it does work :P
GREED, JEALOUSY, EGO and ARROGANCE. It was obviously going to die. It was such obvious shit when the real creatives left.
This video is walking dead in its tracks and just a giant cash grab at telltale games and telltale games shutting down. I enjoyed it.
Thanks Grey.
The Walking Dead is great, This video talks about Telltale and is Telltale Shutting Down!?!
Telltale has fired most of its approximately 300-head development staff, reducing the studio down to just 25 people. They will continue making games, and who knows, maybe better than ever, because they were a tiny studio when they made their best work and then started churning out shit. But perhaps all the key talent left two years ago and what's left won't be able to come up with anything even remotely worthwhile.
Siana Gearz that sucks :( the first episode was the best, all those years ago. I remember watching it on CZcams and all those playthroughs. Here's hoping that Telltale Games will make a better game, one even more popular than The Walking Dead
Keep in mind, this is two months after laying off another 90 staff, so it's unlikely anyone would invest or accept employment, and while they've made a lot of games when they were smaller, none of them were successful until they had a staff of about 100 people--and most of the talent left before Bruner did.
But a major problem was ballooning to 4 times the size within a short time such that communication friction became their limiting factor. I'd say Sam and Max was fine, and it was a small crew game - it and other games of the era were not industry darlings or in any way perfect or remarkable but just successful enough to keep the studio afloat because of how cheap they were to produce. Now that they are a better known name than they were back then and their visual novel like genre established with The Walking Dead gained an industry foothold with numerous companies developing similar games and a wide enough consumer base, they actually have a chance to keep going. Producing one title at a time as opposed to 3 they were doing as a 100 strong crew. Furthermore other games in this and related genres are developed with similarly small or smaller teams. Successful games.
The industry talent pool is immense, lots of people waiting for a chance to shine, and it really doesn't take more than 1 or 2 really talented people to shape a mediocre game into a good one.
I'm not denying that they could, and I mentioned those same things in the video. However, they need money to continue, and it's unlikely anyone is going to invest.
Whatever killed them isn't as bad as what happened to The Walking Dead now that Skybound owns the rights...
The Final Season is an EGS exclusive then I bought the rest of the series on GOG?
Nope, not gonna happen, I won't even install EGS for all the "free" games they keep trying to give me.
Skybound has always owned the rights.
if skybound did not go and save the walking dead you'd not have a season 4 and the wd would have been delisted with everything else. the egs hate is getting really petty.
They made bad games that only got attention cause they where based on popular films and series, no wonder they died
Getting too big too soon, after losing the majority of their classic adventure fans.
i killed telltale
there was no fucking way i would buy the game once and drop 5 times the price on all episodes in total
i pirated them and enjoyed it
Hot take but it's true. They also would make you wait *months* for episodic releases and in the meantime would try to sell them for 10$ each; I wanted to bulk buy them for a discount and waited until they were on sale. And even then, I Yo Ho Ho'd myself a copy up and played it in the meantime.
I'd rather play with hot coals with my bare hands. What a great business model. Imagine a restaurant serving 1/4 of your meal and explaining that the other 3/4ths is "DLC" or "Dish Loaded Content" that you have to buy separately at a later date; no wonder why Telltale went out of business.
Ill never touch anything from it. Why pirate garbage and enjoy it lol
th3y suck
I dont mean to sound rude, but i was glad when tell tale went under. I never liked the way they made games, i only tried a few but none were any good in my opinion. I hope the ground floor devs found work elsewhere, but hope they make more then just digital choose your own adventure books.
Stop saying 'laid off'. They were fired.
There is a legal distinction, and I use correct words.
Why the hell you take 20 mins to explain something that can be said in 6-10 mins. Of course i know who telltale is...thats why i clicked the fucking video. You dont have to tell me their games. Jeezus. *breaths heavily* ok so...I just think you took too much time. Keep your videos shorter. thats it.
Not everyone knows the entire history, and I felt strongly that knowing that history is important to understanding why they failed.
alot of people seeem to think telltale only magically came into being with walkingdead season 1. so talking about the stuff they did before that is kind mandatory at this point.
It was trash, thats what