Telltale Games
Telltale Games revived after 2018 closure, acquired by LCG Entertainment.
Last updated October 6, 2026
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Overview
After the 2018 closure, Telltale Games' brand and assets were acquired by LCG Entertainment, and the company was relaunched in 2019. The new company continues to develop narrative games and plans to release titles like The Wolf Among Us 2.
History
Telltale Games was established in 2004 by former LucasArts employees Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors, and Troy Molander. The founders sought to continue the graphic-adventure tradition while adapting it to digital distribution and a changing games market. The studio's early catalogue included original and licensed adventure properties, among them Bone, Sam & Max, Strong Bad, and CSI. These projects helped the company develop a production approach based on dialogue, puzzles, humor, and serialized delivery. During the late 2000s and early 2010s, Telltale increasingly focused on recognizable entertainment licenses. Back to the Future: The Game and Jurassic Park: The Game demonstrated the studio's interest in translating film properties into interactive episodes. The company then achieved its breakthrough with The Walking Dead. Its first season, released in 2012, placed emotional decisions and relationships ahead of traditional inventory puzzles and made the player's apparent responsibility for the characters a central mechanic. The game's success substantially expanded Telltale's audience and created a recognizable commercial formula. After The Walking Dead, the studio pursued a broad slate of partnerships. The Wolf Among Us adapted the Fables comic-book setting; Tales from the Borderlands combined Telltale's narrative structure with Gearbox's science-fiction comedy property; and Minecraft: Story Mode brought the format to one of the industry's largest family-oriented brands. Telltale also produced Batman and Guardians of the Galaxy projects. This expansion increased the brand's visibility, but it also required the company to manage multiple licensed productions and long development schedules at once. The original studio's business deteriorated in 2018. Telltale announced a major workforce reduction and the closure of most operations. Several projects were cancelled, while some work was completed or transferred through other arrangements. The shutdown exposed the operational and financial fragility of the studio's expansion strategy and became a significant event in the history of independent game development. The original corporate entity entered liquidation, and the closure generated criticism concerning working conditions and the limited notice reportedly provided to employees. LCG Entertainment acquired rights and selected assets connected with the Telltale name in 2019 and relaunched the brand. The new company retained the name and parts of the catalogue but was not simply a continuation of the original studio's workforce or corporate structure. It adopted a more partnership-oriented model, combining internal publishing and production functions with external developers. The Expanse: A Telltale Series, made with Deck Nine, was released in 2023. The revived company has also continued work on The Wolf Among Us 2 and promoted The Wolf Among Us Remastered. Telltale's present identity consequently combines legacy catalogue management with new licensed narrative projects, while its historical significance comes from popularizing episodic, choice-focused adventure games for a broad mainstream audience.
- 2023
The Expanse: A Telltale Series launches
[1]The revived brand returns with a new episodic adventure produced with Deck Nine.
- 2019
Brand is acquired and relaunched
[1]LCG Entertainment acquires rights and selected assets and begins operating a new company under the Telltale Games name.
- 2018
Original studio closes most operations
[2]The original company announces a major shutdown and workforce reduction, followed by liquidation proceedings.
- 2014
The Wolf Among Us and Tales from the Borderlands expand the catalogue
[2]Telltale broadens its portfolio with projects based on Fables and Borderlands.
- 2012
The Walking Dead changes the brand's profile
[3]The first season of The Walking Dead establishes Telltale as a leading creator of emotionally driven, episodic narrative adventures.
- 2004
Telltale Games is founded
[2]Former LucasArts employees Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors, and Troy Molander establish Telltale Games as an adventure-game developer.
Products and positioning
Story-driven interactive entertainment built around character relationships, cinematic presentation, player choice, and episodic release structures.
Episodic narrative adventure · 2012
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series
Telltale's best-known game series follows survivors in a post-apocalyptic setting and emphasizes relationships, dialogue choices, and moral decisions. The first season's focus on Lee Everett and Clementine made the brand synonymous with emotionally consequential interactive storytelling. Later seasons continued Clementine's story and expanded the series into a multi-season narrative.
Episodic narrative adventure · 2013
The Wolf Among Us
Based on Bill Willingham's Fables universe, this noir-influenced adventure casts the player as Bigby Wolf, sheriff of a hidden community of fairy-tale characters. Its detective structure, stylized setting, and emphasis on social choices made it one of Telltale's most distinctive original licensed adaptations.
Episodic narrative adventure · 2014
Tales from the Borderlands
Developed with Gearbox, this series applies Telltale's dialogue-led format to the Borderlands universe. It combines multiple protagonists, comedic writing, cinematic set pieces, and player decisions while preserving the setting's irreverent tone.
Episodic narrative adventure · 2016
Batman: The Telltale Series
The Batman projects reinterpret Bruce Wayne and Gotham through interactive drama rather than a conventional open-world superhero format. Players balance Wayne's public identity with Batman's activities and make decisions affecting allies, enemies, and the political environment.
Episodic narrative adventure · 2015
Minecraft: Story Mode
Created under license from Mojang, Minecraft: Story Mode translates the sandbox game's world and visual language into a character-focused episodic adventure. It was designed to be accessible to a broad audience while retaining Telltale's dialogue and decision systems.
Episodic narrative adventure · 2023
The Expanse: A Telltale Series
The first major new series associated with the relaunched Telltale brand, this game is based on the science-fiction television and book universe. It was developed with Deck Nine and uses exploration, dialogue, and consequential decisions within a serialized structure.
Controversies
2018
Shutdown and employment practices controversy
The original studio's abrupt 2018 shutdown and large-scale layoffs drew criticism over employee notice, severance, and workplace conditions. The episode became a widely discussed example of the vulnerability of game-development workers when a studio faces sudden financial distress.
Brand decisions
2019
Acquire and relaunch the Telltale brandM&ABackground
After the original studio's 2018 shutdown and liquidation, the Telltale name and selected associated assets became available for acquisition.
Action taken
LCG Entertainment acquired rights and selected assets and established a new business operating under the Telltale Games name.
Aftermath
The brand returned as a smaller, partnership-oriented publisher and developer rather than as a direct continuation of the original corporate operation.
2012
Adopt episodic, choice-centered storytelling as the core modelStrategyBackground
The studio had worked on several licensed adventure projects but sought a format that could support digital distribution and recurring releases.
Action taken
Telltale centered its major releases on serialized episodes, dialogue decisions, cinematic presentation, and consequences carried between installments.
Aftermath
The model reached mainstream visibility through The Walking Dead and became the defining characteristic of the brand.
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