Is Telltale doomed?
Okay so ever since the success of The Walking Dead/The Wolf Among Us, I've noticed that Telltale work on like four projects at the same time. I think at one point when Season 2 just started out:
- They were working on Season 2 of The Walking Dead
- Game of Thrones
- Tales From The Borderlands
And possibly more, mainly because they announce/clearly plan things like Season 2 of Game of Thrones, Season 3 of TWD, announced the Marvel project, and are working on their own IP throughout all of this (that was announced, no idea where that has gone), and possibly began pre-planning things that haven't been announced yet.
A lot of people are critical of Telltale's recent series (other than Tales From The Borderlands) and I'm worried (though I have no experience of development or any of that and I don't want to insinuate anything), mainly because of their rushed development causing script changes/rewrites and glitches, lack of hub areas, less time (I seriously cannot remember playing a Telltale episode that was at least 2 hours ever since like Tales From The Borderlands), bad writing, etc.
But I feel a possible cause for all of this could be because they're working on so many things. I mean even if they have a team of say 100, they'd have to split that team to 25 (not including writers, Pierre Shorette I think worked on both Tales From The Borderlands and TWD S2 at the same time and probably was working on some other series they were pre-planning), and with deadlines it could cause the quality of the games to suffer.
This could cause a vicious cycle.
Telltale have grown and are still growing from the shockwaves of The Walking Dead: Season One's major success, and as such their growth could obviously cost a lot more and put a lot more fiscal strain on the company.
As a result the company needs a new schedule to make more games.
Only thing is, the new games and new schedule might rush these games and thus they have less time to be worked on and have a lower quality than one would expect.
However Telltale need to push this out to keep them fiscally manageable, and thus you can see where this cycle begins.
They have to make more games to make more money, but the games might have less time and less good but they still have to carry on.
And even on 'Glassdoor' (which yes, has a grain of salt, it still doesn't invalidate what is being said) has some really poor reviews for Telltale all mainly having similar complaints.
Unstable, bad management, quantity over quality, underpaid, bad crunching, fast pacing, and so on.
Now I have no idea if this is true, a lot of what I said is speculation but I feel that it's fair and it brings about my concerns. I don't think Telltale will improve because I don't think they can improve. And that's not saying, the people working there don't have the will, the drive, the effort or most importantly the ability to improve, but I just think it's impossible given how much stress the company is over concerning its growth.
I just wanted to put this out there, I've been sitting on feelings like this since 2014 but didn't know if they were right and the company just had 2 years since TWD Season 1 and was growing. But now it's 2017, I don't see things getting any better.
Comments
Personally as long as they are making money we will see no changes
The games are having less content, less vital decisons, shorter, less hub, cliche characters, full bugs and bad lip sync
Writing to predictable feels like follow same formula especially in twd everyone dies except main cast etc.
Every game feels near exact same only different story so boring recently.
Yet games getting more expensive
Nothing unique about telltale anymore so many other games with similar styles which I had better experience my fav being oxenfree and what remains of edith finch etc
Need freshen it up need major overhaul imo
More gameplay, decisions, hub areas, puzzles
Or the pick 4 convo choices where all convo choices are near the exact same but of course when picked they say.something different and all responses are answered same way making choice irrelevant
They have talent there instead of releasing lots of mediocre games concentrate on one amazing game.
Anyway remember when season 2 of twd released with shorter episodes, less gameplay etc even staff came here. We all discussed these problems and made no difference since then just shorter and more expensive.
I have faith but this critic backlash and fan backlash is what we need and to affect profits then we see a change.
Guardians sold so damn badly on Steam it's unbelievable. It's their worst selling game on steam. ANF sold decently, but not as much as it could've since it got TONS of refunds when it was first released (I'm talking 80k+). Steam gives us an okayish representation of what the console sales are (though not 100% correct and possibly really far off). Hopefully these lower sales (judging from steam data) and lower steam ratings (For example TWD: ANF is at 74%, S1 and S2 are at 96%) mean that they will at least TRY to change.
They've been doomed since early 2016, IMO.
Great news felt both were let down so far
Never forget when played Guardians demo
Got to section where starlord has rocket boots
I was just saying to myself please telltale I need a few seconds gameplay to move around on dem rocket boots all is forgiven
........just used in QTE
I switched off demo then I was done lol
Just giive me anything new and different
I wish.....
The console sales are best judged on the ratings they get in the store and ANF had a surprisingly good rating iirc but GotG's rating is subpar in comparison (sadly).
Although me and many others are mostly mature telltale fans a feel telltale learned from a new frontier. Minecraft Story Mode season 2 episode one was 2 hours long had four hubs and added new gameplay elements like an actual non QTE combat system. Also Guardians of the Galaxy is turning out great and most people only hate on it because of how ANF turned out. Personally I thought ANF was better than season 2 of TWD. As noticeable though staff are constantly coming on the forums asking things about what hubs, characters, and action moments people liked so they can incorporate it into future games (and possibly TWD season 4). They may have been doomed for awhile but I think they are becoming redeemed.
...Well white walkers are in it, they count right?
(No but I messed up oops)
But the biggest problem is, making people overwork and creating these games is going to just have games be rushed and therefore be worse and create less sales prompting them to make people overwork and it just goes on. They need to figure out how to make less money and work less series so they have more time
I honestly wouldn't have any problem if they stopped releasing so many games and stayed at 2 or even 1 game each year, as long as it's a good and long (at least 2 hour episodes) game.
I don't think any of us would mind. But I'm just worried if it's financially viable for them.
Yeah, I really have to admit, Guardians of the Galaxy has to be like their worst game, I've played the first 2 episodes and I'm so bored of it, it doesn't give me the feeling to play more episodes like in their previous games. Tbh, they could've spent all the resources allocated to GOTG to a new The Wolf Among Us S2 or Tales from the Borderlands or even Batman !
Wont read all that text. I'll just answer the topic:
YES
They count lmao, nice one.
Telltale are certainly on a downward slope. I didn't mind ANF too, I though it was okay overall. I enjoyed Batman quite a lot. The issue is of course because they are taking on too many projects at once. Last year was certainly their worst year imo, TWD: Michonne is the weakest Telltale game I have played. The trade off is that their games are looking better. I haven't played Guardians but it does look really good for a Telltale game. I really wouldn't mind waiting longer for episodes like we used to. I would just be glad to know that they have refined them.
I think they can improve but I think it's unlikely they will ever be what they once were. Even after TWD: S1, their fame didn't overshadow them still making other great games. It's like now they realized they can do much more with their format, so they are trying to make as much money as possible. What Job said recently about pleasing older Telltale fans could be something of a return, but I'm not holding my breath.
The universe will end in an inevitable heat death as photons shoot off into an endless void of expanding space.
Everything is doomed.
Actions = important. They can come to the forums and ask for feedback all they want, if they don't incorporate the feedback it's all useless - so we'll see if they'll redeem themselves or not.
Uh.. If you moved past that QTE, 30 seconds later there's a hub, and you can use your Rocket boots to your heart's content. And it's a big hub. And there are many hubs.
You don't know what you're missing out on.
Yes, Telltale has done badly recently, but I think that they've learned a lot from the fans based on ANF's terrible reception.
Guardians is a big step up, mechanically.
New hub exploration mechanics (Rocket boots let you explore many floors of a hub).. Hubs are largely detailed and massive, with many optional things to look at and characters to have actual conversations with.. Episode lengths are back on track, with a good 90+ minutes each now.. The illusion of choice is still there but it is big and believable. There are a good number of differences and extra lines in scenes based on past choices. While Telltale needs a bit of work in the jokes department, as some people aren't satisfied with it, it's mostly fine the first episode gets pretty slow however, but I don't mind.
I haven't played it for myself yet but Minecraft S2 is good according to reviews from people here. The length is huge for episode 1, hubs are big and great, there's some cool customization.. That's all I can get into without spoiling anything for myself.
This is a roller coaster, and we just experienced our first drop. Time to climb back up again.
As the saying goes, when you stumble and fall on a walk, you can only rise up and keep walking.
Or when you hit the rock bottom, there is only one direction and that is up.
Problem is, Telltale hasn't hit rock bottom yet. Who knows which way this elevator'll go?
geez that analogy was weird.
Maybe, I heard the new season of Batman is really good so far
To me the new Batman episode is probably one of the best they 've done. And I am enjoying GotG as well. But not as much as The Enigma.
IT IS.
Yeah, 'The Enigma' is one of their best premiere episodes. I don't want to speak too soon but it was a bit of a return to form, though we'll have to wait and see how they deliver on their two main properties (TWAU S2 and TWD S4).
I've been quite stubborn towards GoTG, but I've only heard good things. Maybe I'll try it when all the episodes are out.
Just as I was saying it doesn't look too good for Telltale, they prove me wrong. It seems as though they have been listening to the fans, so hopefully they keep doing that.