Games in Development Have Not Been Impacted
Being a game developer is neither easy nor predictable, and 90 developers from Telltale Games just learned that the hard way. A new statement from the video game developer revealed that 25% of its workforce is being let go due to restructuring.
According to Telltale, they’re scaling back so that they can be “more competitive as a developer and publisher of groundbreaking story-driven gaming experiences with an emphasis on high quality in the years ahead.”
“Our industry has shifted in tremendous ways over the past few years,” Telltale Games CEO Pete Hawley said in a statement. “The realities of the environment we face moving forward demand we evolve, as well, reorienting our organization with a focus on delivering fewer, better games with a smaller team.”
Part of the restructuring entails a new technology the studio will be pursuing for game development. They haven’t specified which but, apparently, it “will fast-track innovation in its core products.” And as reported by Polygon, the layoffs are “not expected to impact the release of any of the company’s previously announced projects,” Current projects include The Walking Dead, Minecraft: Story Mode, Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Wolf Among Us 2.
But what about the 90 team members that got laid off? Well, a new movement on Twitter, #TelltaleJobs, is advocating for the recruitment of these individuals. Once again, the internet does not disappoint. Many big companies, from Activision to Zenimax, have extended job invitations to the employees. An entire list has been compiled and posted on Twitter for ex-Telltale devs to find. There’s an endless array of positions available, thanks to this initiative. Invitations even extend to the former employees of Visceral Games, the Dead Space studio that was shut down last month.
Hopefully, we’ll see the names of these employees in the credits of future game releases.