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Wolf Among Us dev calls on industry to “UNIONIZE” amid fresh Telltale layoffsStudio “working to support everyone impacted”
Studio “working to support everyone impacted”
Five years afterall but shutting up shop in 2018, Telltale Games are once again laying off staff. The company let “most” of its employees go in September, according to former staffer and cinematic artist Jonah Huang, who began posting about the situation on Xitter earlier in the week. Telltale have now confirmed aspects of Huang’s story, while declining to specify how many jobs have been chopped.
“Due to current market conditions, we regrettably had to let some of our Telltale team go recently,” the studio wrote in a statement. “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.”
It’s unclear how the layoffs will affect development of Telltale’son-going Expanse adaptationsorThe Wolf Among Us 2, which has already beendelayed out of 2023 to avoid overworking staff, but the company insisted in their statement that “all projects currently in development are still in production, and we have no further updates at this time.”
The Telltale cuts are the latest in a series of brutal mass layoffs at major videogame companies, withEpic recently carving away 830 stafffollowing what their CEO Tim Sweeney described as an “unrealistic” period of over-investment – naturally, he’s not amongst those clearing his desk. Creative Assembly have begun a redundancy processfollowing the cancellation of their shooter Hyenas, while Team 17are cutting staff for the second time this year. Back in January, Microsoftfired almost 10,000 workersacross several studios and departments, blaming the state of the global economy and shifting consumer spending patterns.
This is Huang’s second time being laid off from Telltale - he was originally hired back in 2015, and later rejoined the company’s post-2018 reincarnation to work on The WolfAmong Us2. “I do not want Telltale to fail,” he wrote in the thread. “I genuinely want to see it succeed. Telltale gave me a good deal this time around, but still, it ended the same way most jobs in games end: a layoff, not a retirement. I ask my fellow game devs to fight for better.”
How can unions help when companies try to fire giant swathes of their workforce? I can’t say I’m an expert on the subject, but I’ve been mass-laid-off myself, and the very short version is that they can at least fight for fairer terms of dismissal, while also applying more general pressure for executives to keep workers in mind before they take any risks with the business. Polygon has agood, comprehensive guide to unionisationif you want to read more.
There have been a number of major unionisation efforts this year, reflectingwidespread support for the ideaamong developers. In January, QA staff at ZeniMaxvoted to form the largest union in the games industry, with over 300 members (and parent company Microsoft’s blessing, in public at least). In July, Sega of America employeesvoted to form the Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega union, bringing together over 200 staff from several departments including marketing, QA and live service support. More recently,Genshin Impact voice actors called for unionisationafter months of alleged unpaid work.
