Wait so just what? I’m proud of telltale finnaky seeing the quality>quantity but they fired Job and Laura among other people. Seriously though I hope they didn’t just fire them out of nowhere I hope they had reasoning rather than they firing to make a smaller team. Like I said I like what they are trying to do but it’s sad to see people we’ve been following for years just go.
First off to those affected...I hope for the best for you and yours.
This could be a good thing. Telltale was on top of it's game when it was a scrappy outsider who had to fight for it's recognition. Success with TWD lead to some amazing games...but success like they had can blind you to problems that are there. Not investing in their tech properly lead them to create a Frankenstein of an engine. And we have to admit...they became lazy when it came to script work...and the way management would interfere in story elements of their later games hurt the process.(You do not rip out entire sections of a game like and force constant rewrites and force your voice actors to keep on re doing whole sections...somewhere they tend to lose confidence in the tale being told.)
It has been very apparent that something has to change at Telltale. The management of the company after the success of TWD has been almost criminally negligent. Adding 300 people and refusing to change with the times in terms of tech that is used and the very engine your games run on.
Instead of working on a few quality projects...the management decided to try and throw out as much shit as possible in hope that some would stick.
Mr. Bruner, I know that you left this company in March, I hold you very much responsible for this. You treated your talent as mere cogs in a machine...in search of more and more instant success you broke what made the company so good. Interesting stories told for the art of the telling. Your broke your people with second guesses and cronyism...you refused to listen to the people in the trenches. Now you are gone and you have the audacity to write in your blog about how sad you are. 90 people are without a job because of you sir. You are a base liar The VGAs proved that.
Sometimes you need to scale back and/or remove things in order to see from a new and truer perspective (very true for life in general). It sucks to see people lose their job. Restructuring is never an easy process. However, the true fruit won't come until much later down the line. Like you said, we need to wait and see. And "wait and see" does not equal TWD: Season 4's success (I'm really starting to feel like S4 is their way of ending an era of TTG). I hope the payoff is well for TTG and those who have to make career changes. Hopefully the next era of TTG will be better than the past ones.
I'm as shocked as many of you folks, but it seems to me many are jumping to conclusions right now. 90 people laid off – in 2010, that would … morehave been the entire company. So the company exploded during the last five years, evidently NOT to its benefit. Scaling back may be the right step. Of course, there are some people now gone that I dearly love/loved during the subjective "good times" before TWD struck, people that made Telltale for me. Then again, a lot of people that "made" Telltale for me left even before or during 2012.
So basically, wait and see.
Mr. Bruner, I know that you left this company in March, I hold you very much responsible for this. You treated your talent as mere cogs in a machine...in search of more and more instant success you broke what made the company so good. Interesting stories told for the art of the telling. Your broke your people with second guesses and cronyism...you refused to listen to the people in the trenches. Now you are gone and you have the audacity to write in your blog about how sad you are. 90 people are without a job because of you sir. You are a base liar and if people are to be believed...an asshole.
First off to those affected...I hope for the best for you and yours.
This could be a good thing. Telltale was on top of it's game when i… moret was a scrappy outsider who had to fight for it's recognition. Success with TWD lead to some amazing games...but success like they had can blind you to problems that are there. Not investing in their tech properly lead them to create a Frankenstein of an engine. And we have to admit...they became lazy when it came to script work...and the way management would interfere in story elements of their later games hurt the process.(You do not rip out entire sections of a game like and force constant rewrites and force your voice actors to keep on re doing whole sections...somewhere they tend to lose confidence in the tale being told.)
It has been very apparent that something has to change at Telltale. The management of the company after the success of TWD has been almost criminally negligent. Adding 300… [view original content]
Apparently, some of those that have been fired have been among the web team in charge of the site... right in the aftermath of a very controversial forum update and in the process of supposedly gathering and discussing our feedback. And among them is at least one staff member whom I know was listening closely and carefully to criticism and who actually took the time to discuss and explain the update and reasons behind it to community members, so, in short, one staff member who did excellent work. I don't know about the current state of the web team and how many of them are affected, but this does not bode well for the future improvements that were supposedly planned, neither can it mean anything good for actually applying our feedback (such as restoring certain important functions, like the main post). At the very least, chances haven't improved and I can only hope the remaining web team is still going to listen to our concerns. Though them being decreased in size by an unknown number really makes me worried that the forums are going to look exactly like this for months to come before anything is changed about the unappealing background, generic design or the still missing main posts.
That being said, my only true concern here is the forums itself and not the fate of the company or the quality of their work. Telltale has done very well in the 2012-2015 era with a smaller team (much smaller if we look at the TWD Season 1 era), so maybe the loss in manpower forces them to go back to these days, where only 2-3 projects each year receive all the attention. I kinda miss these days, where a new Telltale episode was still something special, so maybe this can also be a chance. A smaller team can be more efficient and can also assure a consistent level of quality for each episode, instead of the fluctuating quality many recent titles showed even between episodes of the same title. I mean, how many companies put out 4 games each year and expect all of them to be critically well-received and successful titles? It can't be a bad idea to go back to the days that made Telltale so successful.
I'm feeling terrible for the people that have been let go though and am certain that the lack of success that made this cut necessary is not the slightest bit their fault. Hopefully they'll find work somewhere else in the business and hopefully the plan behind the cut will ultimately work out, for their sake, for Telltale's sake and for our sake as fans and customers.
I don't recall any staff members posting in this thread in particular (are you thinking of my own posts explaining the update?), but they were (and are) listening, yes.
Don't worry - some of the prominent web team members in charge of updates are definitely still around.
Apparently, some of those that have been fired have been among the web team in charge of the site... right in the aftermath of a very contro… moreversial forum update and in the process of supposedly gathering and discussing our feedback. And among them is at least one staff member whom I know was listening closely and carefully to criticism and who actually took the time to discuss and explain the update and reasons behind it to community members, so, in short, one staff member who did excellent work. I don't know about the current state of the web team and how many of them are affected, but this does not bode well for the future improvements that were supposedly planned, neither can it mean anything good for actually applying our feedback (such as restoring certain important functions, like the main post). At the very least, chances haven't improved and I can only hope the remaining web team is still going to listen to our concerns. Though them b… [view original content]
I don't recall any staff members posting in this thread in particular (are you thinking of my own posts explaining the update?), but they we… morere (and are) listening, yes.
Don't worry - some of the prominent web team members in charge of updates are definitely still around.
Some of the other mods and I were talking things over, and we just wanted to ask that people please be respectful with their comments. Criticism of Telltale and/or business choices is fine, but please avoid personally singling out staff members, making comments of the "LOL" variety, etc. Forum Guideline 2.2 (Respect Personal Boundaries of Staff) applies to both past and present staff members.
Oh, thanks. I thought that it was also his area.
Btw look at his linkedin profile, it's updated in a strange way. Self-employed? https://www.linkedin.com/in/jobjstauffer
Job was one of the people laid off, I believe.
(Also, he didn't have much of a role in the web updates, if that relates to why you quoted that particular post of mine.)
Wow, I'm honestly quite surprised, but like many have pointed out, there's both good and bad to come out of this situation. The bad is pretty obvious, 90 people are now out of a job, including some of Telltale's most prominent like Stauffer (who I have made clear my feelings for many times previous, but still, I wish him luck in his future endeavors). It can also be very indicative of how Telltale is performing financially that they feel the need to do what appears to be a huge restructuring of the company. Having that many people on your payroll and a decrease in sales, expect your expenses to skyrocket. However, at the same time, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Many people, myself included, noted that Telltale was growing and hiring way too fast, and that did not always lead to better products, in fact, it hurt them in many ways. This restructuring can help the teams become more focused and tight knit, but it will only work if there is a strong head leading the ship, and this will prove to be Pete's first real test as CEO. We saw the direction this company was heading under Bruner's leadership, many a threads have been created for that sole reason, so hopefully the new leadership that Pete brings will be welcomed, and a decrease in staff will lead to a bette product.
No, it's nothing from the update thread. What I mean is, there was an actual staff member from the web team (the only one I knew of) whom I had reached out to slightly before the update to ask if the feed bug was being worked on and to my surprise, I even received an answer. I wasn't sure if that was something I was allowed to speak about in public before so I kept silent, but given the person is no longer working at Telltale, I think it is okay now? Hope so at least, as I don't want to breach any trust here, or reveal information that might not be meant to become public. If there's a problem, feel free to edit out any parts of my post that should remain confidential, if there even are any, and we can resolve this via PM. When the update hit just a day later, he asked for my feedback on it, even taking the time to answer again and explain some of the stuff concerning the update. That was a very decent thing to do and I can only thank that person for taking the time and having that conversation with me. It was also actually the main reason why I went from an outspoken critic of the update to someone at least willing to give it a chance. That kinda gave me the opportunity to directly bring up some suggestions, not only hoping, but outright knowing they were listened to, and there were a couple things which he actually liked, such as my favourite topic, the grand return of the main post. He wanted to bring them up with the rest of the team in return to see what can be done about it (not sure if he managed to do so before the cut happened though). He then asked of me to give the update a bit of time, but just as I wanted to get back to him after about a week or so, these very news happened and I unfortunately found out he's no longer a staff member now, but an Alumni (Alumnus?). Naturally, that has dulled my hopes for future improvements, given that the one person confirmed to listen is gone now.
That being said, I am glad to hear the web team as a whole is still around, listening to our concerns and planning to improve the site, I feared there might have been significant cuts to the point of effectively dismantling them. I don't know the mindset behind the cut after all, maybe web development isn't exactly priority work now, with a larger focus on maintaining what we currently have instead of improving and updating. If they are still active and around, then all is good, I just hope some specific things are still being looked into and worked on sooner rather than later.
I don't recall any staff members posting in this thread in particular (are you thinking of my own posts explaining the update?), but they we… morere (and are) listening, yes.
Don't worry - some of the prominent web team members in charge of updates are definitely still around.
No, it's nothing from the update thread. What I mean is, there was an actual staff member from the web team (the only one I knew of) whom I … morehad reached out to slightly before the update to ask if the feed bug was being worked on and to my surprise, I even received an answer. I wasn't sure if that was something I was allowed to speak about in public before so I kept silent, but given the person is no longer working at Telltale, I think it is okay now? Hope so at least, as I don't want to breach any trust here, or reveal information that might not be meant to become public. If there's a problem, feel free to edit out any parts of my post that should remain confidential, if there even are any, and we can resolve this via PM. When the update hit just a day later, he asked for my feedback on it, even taking the time to answer again and explain some of the stuff concerning the update. That was a very decent thing to do and I can only thank that per… [view original content]
Once again I was not sure if I should reveal the name of the staff member, but since you assumed correctly, I don't think there's reason to hide it. I still remembered him from last year's update thread, where he was the only staff member to directly talk to the community after the forums had been severely broken for a couple weeks, so he was the one I tried to contact when the feed bug became a serious issue. Really a great person I hope he won't be without a paying job for long.
In general, I hope Telltale is taking appropriate steps to compensate their former employees, assisting them with finding a new job or at least assuring they won't be entirely without income for the next few weeks, especially with the holidays approaching. I don't know how employment protection at Telltale or the US in general works, though this seems to have come without warning for many of those affected and I imagine being a Telltale employee in anything but the higher management and senior positions isn't exactly paying well enough to allow for suitable reserves. Those people deserve better than to be kicked out without warning, even if the decision as a whole might have been necessary to assure Telltale's success.
Whatever is happening, whether replacements or improvements are going to be made, there are a lot of new Engineering positions open. https://telltale.com/jobs/
Those Tweets are from September...so who knows...however it is odd that they are looking at all these new engineers. I am not a game designer...so I can only guess at what this means...I mean you take the layoffs...but you have them recently calling for a whole slew of new engineers....could this be down to the fact that they are moving into new engines like Unity and Unreal? If anyone is in software...maybe they could give us some clue.
Whatever is happening, whether replacements or improvements are going to be made, there are a lot of new Engineering positions open. https://telltale.com/jobs/
Just an FYI to those that are concerned about those who lost their jobs... Blizzard Entertainment reached out to them and told them to apply for jobs there. Hopefully nothing too bad comes of this for those individuals.
However, the games have been declining in quality since (for me anyway) Minecraft: Story Mode. I'm not sure if the layoff really had to do with those responsible for the lack of popularity in the recent games, but I'm hoping that while it's scary for those individuals that some good comes out of it for the company because they really need it. I would also warn those wanting to look into Telltale career-wise just because those who leave company reviews have rarely looked upon the experiences positively and end up leaving anyway... Hopefully this changes as well.
I wouldn't look at the situation as good or bad yet. Just keep your fingers crossed that it ends up being a positive change.
Ubisoft has also vocally reached out to former Telltale employees (writers in particular). And Telltale remains a CV badge in that respect. Let's hope it plays out great for all involved.
Just an FYI to those that are concerned about those who lost their jobs... Blizzard Entertainment reached out to them and told them to apply… more for jobs there. Hopefully nothing too bad comes of this for those individuals.
However, the games have been declining in quality since (for me anyway) Minecraft: Story Mode. I'm not sure if the layoff really had to do with those responsible for the lack of popularity in the recent games, but I'm hoping that while it's scary for those individuals that some good comes out of it for the company because they really need it. I would also warn those wanting to look into Telltale career-wise just because those who leave company reviews have rarely looked upon the experiences positively and end up leaving anyway... Hopefully this changes as well.
I wouldn't look at the situation as good or bad yet. Just keep your fingers crossed that it ends up being a positive change.
Before the day was over, after the news broke, tons of developers(it really was a LOT) posted their needs to them on twitter. Some even said to ignore postings and to contact them anyway.
Indeed...even The creator of Bioshock and Systemshock has asked for them to apply...Still 90 people are a lot...but I do feel better...heck even more inclined to look on Ubisoft with kinder thoughts(FUCKYOU UPLAY).
Before the day was over, after the news broke, tons of developers(it really was a LOT) posted their needs to them on twitter. Some even said to ignore postings and to contact them anyway.
It really was a great gesture from the industry.
Telltale should be subject to the California version of the WARN Act, which requires 60 days notice of a layoff of more than 50 employees who had been working more than six months prior. If Telltale violated this, then affected employees could sue for back pay.
Once again I was not sure if I should reveal the name of the staff member, but since you assumed correctly, I don't think there's reason to … morehide it. I still remembered him from last year's update thread, where he was the only staff member to directly talk to the community after the forums had been severely broken for a couple weeks, so he was the one I tried to contact when the feed bug became a serious issue. Really a great person I hope he won't be without a paying job for long.
In general, I hope Telltale is taking appropriate steps to compensate their former employees, assisting them with finding a new job or at least assuring they won't be entirely without income for the next few weeks, especially with the holidays approaching. I don't know how employment protection at Telltale or the US in general works, though this seems to have come without warning for many of those affected and I imagine being a Telltale employee in anything but t… [view original content]
Horrible news to hear. I would like to wish all of those who were relieved of their duties the very best of luck in the near future and beyond. I will miss Job in particular as I always got excited when I saw him discussing Walking Dead. It is very sad to hear this and they will all be missed. I honestly hope Telltale can recover from this as this is a large quantity of their work force are left without a job. I hope to see that Telltale can recruit people that can possibly match the qualities of the relieved employees
So many of us called this years ago when they pivoted away from point and click adventure games (with hubs and great writing) to big name licenses and games that felt totally on the rail and devoid of interaction.
Even the QTE heavy interactive movies like TWAU, TFTBL, and earlier seasons of TWD were neglected for big name b.s. like Minecraft and GoT.
Fans tried to warn them and complained, but to no avail.
They lost the magic and quirky fun of their earlier titles. Started taking themselves too seriously and chasing mainstream success far too much after TWDs success clearly went to their heads.
Sad part is, most of this is the fault of upper management who won't pay for the screw ups like rank and file employees will...
The biggest mistake is that they found a certain formula and stuck with it....which is ironic seeing as they left one stale old formula behind (The point and click). Not every game should have been a interactive story...they should have branched out to things like rpgs with heavy narrative elements....they needed to continue to drive innovation forward and taken chances.
In any case...the one thing that should have been driving their games which is an amazing story became the part of the game they started to cut corners on to produce games faster.
So many of us called this years ago when they pivoted away from point and click adventure games (with hubs and great writing) to big name li… morecenses and games that felt totally on the rail and devoid of interaction.
Even the QTE heavy interactive movies like TWAU, TFTBL, and earlier seasons of TWD were neglected for big name b.s. like Minecraft and GoT.
Fans tried to warn them and complained, but to no avail.
They lost the magic and quirky fun of their earlier titles. Started taking themselves too seriously and chasing mainstream success far too much after TWDs success clearly went to their heads.
Sad part is, most of this is the fault of upper management who won't pay for the screw ups like rank and file employees will...
They should look at Games like life is strange and The Dreamfall Chapters for inspiration which is an awesome adventure game with loads of choices that matter. I really recommend the dreamfall chapters to anyone who loves telltale games or life is strange. The dev had success with dreamfall and instead of doing the same thing they are now making an rpg and a horror game.
The biggest mistake is that they found a certain formula and stuck with it....which is ironic seeing as they left one stale old formula behi… morend (The point and click). Not every game should have been a interactive story...they should have branched out to things like rpgs with heavy narrative elements....they needed to continue to drive innovation forward and taken chances.
In any case...the one thing that should have been driving their games which is an amazing story became the part of the game they started to cut corners on to produce games faster.
Gah! This whole layoff thing is making me nervous about the remaining episodes of Batman and the two games which were announced for 2018. Plus, I was really hoping for season two of GOT... but that seems doubtful now. Don't like it. I want some form of reassurance from TT.
Telltale should invite Justin Roiland und Dan Harmon to discuss on making a Rick and Morty Story.
I think many people would enjoy this.
May save their Studio.
Guardians Of The Galaxy was supposed to be successful too. Taking a popular ip and making a telltale style game doesn't equal instant profit. Rick and Morty would need some South Park The Stick Of Truth style treatment if it were to be successful.
Telltale should invite Justin Roiland und Dan Harmon to discuss on making a Rick and Morty Story.
I think many people would enjoy this.
May save their Studio.
Don't want to open a new thread that would rub salt in the wound, but this US Gamer paper with comments from (former?) Telltale employees is interesting:
I guess many of fans here won't learn anything new but still. Some quotes (the entire article is still worth a read IMO):
At the heart of the matter is the repeated claim that for a period of time, Telltale suffered from harmful management practices. It was to a degree where it even became hostile for some employees. As one former Telltale employee told me, "The mentality was work harder, faster, and for as long as you can to hit your milestones. Churn and burn."
[…]
One source told USGamer that, "At one point, there was a quote (printed on paper) on one of the creative director's doors that read something to the tune of, 'It's not about how much time you need to make a good game, it's about how good of a game you can make with the time you have.'" Several other sources confirmed they had also seen this sign.
[…]
From what we've gathered internally, the layoffs swept up key instigators from the previous management, and there's now a reportedly refreshed corporate culture in place. With the whispers of a new game engine and key games like The Wolf Among Us 2 in development, perhaps this is the start of a changed era for Telltale.
First off to those affected...I hope for the best for you and yours.
This could be a good thing. Telltale was on top of it's game when i… moret was a scrappy outsider who had to fight for it's recognition. Success with TWD lead to some amazing games...but success like they had can blind you to problems that are there. Not investing in their tech properly lead them to create a Frankenstein of an engine. And we have to admit...they became lazy when it came to script work...and the way management would interfere in story elements of their later games hurt the process.(You do not rip out entire sections of a game like and force constant rewrites and force your voice actors to keep on re doing whole sections...somewhere they tend to lose confidence in the tale being told.)
It has been very apparent that something has to change at Telltale. The management of the company after the success of TWD has been almost criminally negligent. Adding 300… [view original content]
It sounds so horrible to hear such things like that. How can anyone work under that pressure?
I really hope this restructuration really aims at making quality over a long period of time instead of quantity using "what time you have". It's despicable.
And having that plaque be their "motto" of work? Ugh, it's hard to think about.
Don't want to open a new thread that would rub salt in the wound, but this US Gamer paper with comments from (former?) Telltale employees is… more interesting:
How a Culture of Crunch Brought Telltale From Critical Darling to Layoffs
I guess many of fans here won't learn anything new but still. Some quotes (the entire article is still worth a read IMO):
At the heart of the matter is the repeated claim that for a period of time, Telltale suffered from harmful management practices. It was to a degree where it even became hostile for some employees. As one former Telltale employee told me, "The mentality was work harder, faster, and for as long as you can to hit your milestones. Churn and burn."
[…]
One source told USGamer that, "At one point, there was a quote (printed on paper) on one of the creative director's doors that read something to the tune of, 'It's not about how much time you need to make a good game, it's about how good … [view original content]
Comments
Wait so just what? I’m proud of telltale finnaky seeing the quality>quantity but they fired Job and Laura among other people. Seriously though I hope they didn’t just fire them out of nowhere I hope they had reasoning rather than they firing to make a smaller team. Like I said I like what they are trying to do but it’s sad to see people we’ve been following for years just go.
First off to those affected...I hope for the best for you and yours.
This could be a good thing. Telltale was on top of it's game when it was a scrappy outsider who had to fight for it's recognition. Success with TWD lead to some amazing games...but success like they had can blind you to problems that are there. Not investing in their tech properly lead them to create a Frankenstein of an engine. And we have to admit...they became lazy when it came to script work...and the way management would interfere in story elements of their later games hurt the process.(You do not rip out entire sections of a game like and force constant rewrites and force your voice actors to keep on re doing whole sections...somewhere they tend to lose confidence in the tale being told.)
It has been very apparent that something has to change at Telltale. The management of the company after the success of TWD has been almost criminally negligent. Adding 300 people and refusing to change with the times in terms of tech that is used and the very engine your games run on.
Instead of working on a few quality projects...the management decided to try and throw out as much shit as possible in hope that some would stick.
Mr. Bruner, I know that you left this company in March, I hold you very much responsible for this. You treated your talent as mere cogs in a machine...in search of more and more instant success you broke what made the company so good. Interesting stories told for the art of the telling. Your broke your people with second guesses and cronyism...you refused to listen to the people in the trenches. Now you are gone and you have the audacity to write in your blog about how sad you are. 90 people are without a job because of you sir. You are a base liar The VGAs proved that.
Resalted because...It is the truth.
Sometimes you need to scale back and/or remove things in order to see from a new and truer perspective (very true for life in general). It sucks to see people lose their job. Restructuring is never an easy process. However, the true fruit won't come until much later down the line. Like you said, we need to wait and see. And "wait and see" does not equal TWD: Season 4's success (I'm really starting to feel like S4 is their way of ending an era of TTG). I hope the payoff is well for TTG and those who have to make career changes. Hopefully the next era of TTG will be better than the past ones.
SAVAGE.
...Too soon?
Apparently, some of those that have been fired have been among the web team in charge of the site... right in the aftermath of a very controversial forum update and in the process of supposedly gathering and discussing our feedback. And among them is at least one staff member whom I know was listening closely and carefully to criticism and who actually took the time to discuss and explain the update and reasons behind it to community members, so, in short, one staff member who did excellent work. I don't know about the current state of the web team and how many of them are affected, but this does not bode well for the future improvements that were supposedly planned, neither can it mean anything good for actually applying our feedback (such as restoring certain important functions, like the main post). At the very least, chances haven't improved and I can only hope the remaining web team is still going to listen to our concerns. Though them being decreased in size by an unknown number really makes me worried that the forums are going to look exactly like this for months to come before anything is changed about the unappealing background, generic design or the still missing main posts.
That being said, my only true concern here is the forums itself and not the fate of the company or the quality of their work. Telltale has done very well in the 2012-2015 era with a smaller team (much smaller if we look at the TWD Season 1 era), so maybe the loss in manpower forces them to go back to these days, where only 2-3 projects each year receive all the attention. I kinda miss these days, where a new Telltale episode was still something special, so maybe this can also be a chance. A smaller team can be more efficient and can also assure a consistent level of quality for each episode, instead of the fluctuating quality many recent titles showed even between episodes of the same title. I mean, how many companies put out 4 games each year and expect all of them to be critically well-received and successful titles? It can't be a bad idea to go back to the days that made Telltale so successful.
I'm feeling terrible for the people that have been let go though and am certain that the lack of success that made this cut necessary is not the slightest bit their fault. Hopefully they'll find work somewhere else in the business and hopefully the plan behind the cut will ultimately work out, for their sake, for Telltale's sake and for our sake as fans and customers.
I don't recall any staff members posting in this thread in particular (are you thinking of my own posts explaining the update?), but they were (and are) listening, yes.
Don't worry - some of the prominent web team members in charge of updates are definitely still around.
Any real news from Job?
Some of the other mods and I were talking things over, and we just wanted to ask that people please be respectful with their comments. Criticism of Telltale and/or business choices is fine, but please avoid personally singling out staff members, making comments of the "LOL" variety, etc. Forum Guideline 2.2 (Respect Personal Boundaries of Staff) applies to both past and present staff members.
Please try to keep discussion constructive; bear in mind we are talking about real people losing jobs, and shortly before the Holidays at that.
Job was one of the people laid off, I believe.
(Also, he didn't have much of a role in the web updates, if that relates to why you quoted that particular post of mine.)
Oh, thanks. I thought that it was also his area.
Btw look at his linkedin profile, it's updated in a strange way. Self-employed?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jobjstauffer
Wow, I'm honestly quite surprised, but like many have pointed out, there's both good and bad to come out of this situation. The bad is pretty obvious, 90 people are now out of a job, including some of Telltale's most prominent like Stauffer (who I have made clear my feelings for many times previous, but still, I wish him luck in his future endeavors). It can also be very indicative of how Telltale is performing financially that they feel the need to do what appears to be a huge restructuring of the company. Having that many people on your payroll and a decrease in sales, expect your expenses to skyrocket. However, at the same time, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Many people, myself included, noted that Telltale was growing and hiring way too fast, and that did not always lead to better products, in fact, it hurt them in many ways. This restructuring can help the teams become more focused and tight knit, but it will only work if there is a strong head leading the ship, and this will prove to be Pete's first real test as CEO. We saw the direction this company was heading under Bruner's leadership, many a threads have been created for that sole reason, so hopefully the new leadership that Pete brings will be welcomed, and a decrease in staff will lead to a bette product.
No, it's nothing from the update thread. What I mean is, there was an actual staff member from the web team (the only one I knew of) whom I had reached out to slightly before the update to ask if the feed bug was being worked on and to my surprise, I even received an answer. I wasn't sure if that was something I was allowed to speak about in public before so I kept silent, but given the person is no longer working at Telltale, I think it is okay now? Hope so at least, as I don't want to breach any trust here, or reveal information that might not be meant to become public. If there's a problem, feel free to edit out any parts of my post that should remain confidential, if there even are any, and we can resolve this via PM. When the update hit just a day later, he asked for my feedback on it, even taking the time to answer again and explain some of the stuff concerning the update. That was a very decent thing to do and I can only thank that person for taking the time and having that conversation with me. It was also actually the main reason why I went from an outspoken critic of the update to someone at least willing to give it a chance. That kinda gave me the opportunity to directly bring up some suggestions, not only hoping, but outright knowing they were listened to, and there were a couple things which he actually liked, such as my favourite topic, the grand return of the main post. He wanted to bring them up with the rest of the team in return to see what can be done about it (not sure if he managed to do so before the cut happened though). He then asked of me to give the update a bit of time, but just as I wanted to get back to him after about a week or so, these very news happened and I unfortunately found out he's no longer a staff member now, but an Alumni (Alumnus?). Naturally, that has dulled my hopes for future improvements, given that the one person confirmed to listen is gone now.
That being said, I am glad to hear the web team as a whole is still around, listening to our concerns and planning to improve the site, I feared there might have been significant cuts to the point of effectively dismantling them. I don't know the mindset behind the cut after all, maybe web development isn't exactly priority work now, with a larger focus on maintaining what we currently have instead of improving and updating. If they are still active and around, then all is good, I just hope some specific things are still being looked into and worked on sooner rather than later.
...job is still here, right?
Nope; Job was one of the people let go.
I assume you mean AquaJew? Yeah, sharing PMs like that is fine.
Once again I was not sure if I should reveal the name of the staff member, but since you assumed correctly, I don't think there's reason to hide it. I still remembered him from last year's update thread, where he was the only staff member to directly talk to the community after the forums had been severely broken for a couple weeks, so he was the one I tried to contact when the feed bug became a serious issue. Really a great person I hope he won't be without a paying job for long.
In general, I hope Telltale is taking appropriate steps to compensate their former employees, assisting them with finding a new job or at least assuring they won't be entirely without income for the next few weeks, especially with the holidays approaching. I don't know how employment protection at Telltale or the US in general works, though this seems to have come without warning for many of those affected and I imagine being a Telltale employee in anything but the higher management and senior positions isn't exactly paying well enough to allow for suitable reserves. Those people deserve better than to be kicked out without warning, even if the decision as a whole might have been necessary to assure Telltale's success.
I prefer this one
Whatever is happening, whether replacements or improvements are going to be made, there are a lot of new Engineering positions open. https://telltale.com/jobs/
Those Tweets are from September...so who knows...however it is odd that they are looking at all these new engineers. I am not a game designer...so I can only guess at what this means...I mean you take the layoffs...but you have them recently calling for a whole slew of new engineers....could this be down to the fact that they are moving into new engines like Unity and Unreal? If anyone is in software...maybe they could give us some clue.
Just an FYI to those that are concerned about those who lost their jobs... Blizzard Entertainment reached out to them and told them to apply for jobs there. Hopefully nothing too bad comes of this for those individuals.
However, the games have been declining in quality since (for me anyway) Minecraft: Story Mode. I'm not sure if the layoff really had to do with those responsible for the lack of popularity in the recent games, but I'm hoping that while it's scary for those individuals that some good comes out of it for the company because they really need it. I would also warn those wanting to look into Telltale career-wise just because those who leave company reviews have rarely looked upon the experiences positively and end up leaving anyway... Hopefully this changes as well.
I wouldn't look at the situation as good or bad yet. Just keep your fingers crossed that it ends up being a positive change.
Ubisoft has also vocally reached out to former Telltale employees (writers in particular). And Telltale remains a CV badge in that respect. Let's hope it plays out great for all involved.
Before the day was over, after the news broke, tons of developers(it really was a LOT) posted their needs to them on twitter. Some even said to ignore postings and to contact them anyway.
It really was a great gesture from the industry.
Indeed...even The creator of Bioshock and Systemshock has asked for them to apply...Still 90 people are a lot...but I do feel better...heck even more inclined to look on Ubisoft with kinder thoughts(FUCKYOU UPLAY).
Telltale should be subject to the California version of the WARN Act, which requires 60 days notice of a layoff of more than 50 employees who had been working more than six months prior. If Telltale violated this, then affected employees could sue for back pay.
I am not a lawyer, especially not in California.
What? CEO makes a major?
Horrible news to hear. I would like to wish all of those who were relieved of their duties the very best of luck in the near future and beyond. I will miss Job in particular as I always got excited when I saw him discussing Walking Dead. It is very sad to hear this and they will all be missed. I honestly hope Telltale can recover from this as this is a large quantity of their work force are left without a job. I hope to see that Telltale can recruit people that can possibly match the qualities of the relieved employees
So many of us called this years ago when they pivoted away from point and click adventure games (with hubs and great writing) to big name licenses and games that felt totally on the rail and devoid of interaction.
Even the QTE heavy interactive movies like TWAU, TFTBL, and earlier seasons of TWD were neglected for big name b.s. like Minecraft and GoT.
Fans tried to warn them and complained, but to no avail.
They lost the magic and quirky fun of their earlier titles. Started taking themselves too seriously and chasing mainstream success far too much after TWDs success clearly went to their heads.
Sad part is, most of this is the fault of upper management who won't pay for the screw ups like rank and file employees will...
The biggest mistake is that they found a certain formula and stuck with it....which is ironic seeing as they left one stale old formula behind (The point and click). Not every game should have been a interactive story...they should have branched out to things like rpgs with heavy narrative elements....they needed to continue to drive innovation forward and taken chances.
In any case...the one thing that should have been driving their games which is an amazing story became the part of the game they started to cut corners on to produce games faster.
They should look at Games like life is strange and The Dreamfall Chapters for inspiration which is an awesome adventure game with loads of choices that matter. I really recommend the dreamfall chapters to anyone who loves telltale games or life is strange. The dev had success with dreamfall and instead of doing the same thing they are now making an rpg and a horror game.
Gah! This whole layoff thing is making me nervous about the remaining episodes of Batman and the two games which were announced for 2018. Plus, I was really hoping for season two of GOT... but that seems doubtful now. Don't like it. I want some form of reassurance from TT.
Rushed to check mostlypoptart's profile. Not fired. Thank god.
Wow didn't expect job to go....I don't know what to feel about that
Telltale should invite Justin Roiland und Dan Harmon to discuss on making a Rick and Morty Story.
I think many people would enjoy this.
May save their Studio.
Guardians Of The Galaxy was supposed to be successful too. Taking a popular ip and making a telltale style game doesn't equal instant profit. Rick and Morty would need some South Park The Stick Of Truth style treatment if it were to be successful.
Don't want to open a new thread that would rub salt in the wound, but this US Gamer paper with comments from (former?) Telltale employees is interesting:
How a Culture of Crunch Brought Telltale From Critical Darling to Layoffs
I guess many of fans here won't learn anything new but still. Some quotes (the entire article is still worth a read IMO):
I used a TTS reader on your post and it made your insults to Mr. Bruner sound way more awesome.
LoL
It sounds so horrible to hear such things like that. How can anyone work under that pressure?
I really hope this restructuration really aims at making quality over a long period of time instead of quantity using "what time you have". It's despicable.
And having that plaque be their "motto" of work? Ugh, it's hard to think about.