Former CEO and co-founder of Telltale, Kevin Bruner, is suing Telltale Games
More than a year after his expulsion as the CEO of Telltale Games, co-founder and former CEO Kevin Bruner is suing the game development company, according to the Marin Independent Journal. The suit, seeking recovery of financial damages, has been described by Telltale as “meritless” and “an apparent means of extracting revenge on a company already under financial strain.” Rather than owing Bruner money, the lawsuit is comprised of “baseless and careless accusations of petty revenge,” says Telltale.
Telltale is best known for its resurrection of episodic adventure games. Its work has included the critically acclaimed take on The Walking Dead, as well as original stories based on HBO’s Game of Thrones and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Although the court filings have been redacted to ensure “confidentiality and financial privacy,” Bruner alleges that the company was obligated by contract to give informational support as he prepared to sell his holdings in common and preferred stock. He also says that the company cut off communications just as he was preparing to sell those holdings. According to the lawsuit, “the net effect of Bruner’s alleged removal from the board of directors was that Bruner was deprived of relevant insight into the management and financial state of Telltale and the value of its shares.”
Bruner — who took over as CEO in 2015 — has been widely recognized as a controversial figure. The Verge previously spoke to several sources with direct knowledge of the company’s inner workings, and how it was plagued under Bruner’s leadership by constant crunch, toxic management practices, and a culture of fear and stagnation that he cultivated.
According to Telltale, the company “is now working to turn around the decline that it experienced under Plaintiff’s stewardship.” (The Verge reached out to Telltale for comment.)
Judge Roy Chernus “has rejected an initial attempt by Telltale to defeat the lawsuit outright, ruling there are issues that appear to deserve further examination,” the Marin Independent Journal reports. A a case management conference has been set for July 17.
What the fuck.
Comments
I guess he really wanted to confirm he was the issue plaguing Telltale.
Its pretty obvious its petty revenge instead of what he is claiming, hopefully Telltale will be ok.
I know we all joke about Telltale not doing so good and going under, but I think everyone can agree if Telltale dies because the person who was responsible for ruining a lot of the company is just suing them in a last ditch effort to get back at them, would be a really unfair to go, so I really hope Telltale wins this.
Telltale have suffered from crappy management the verge did an article awhile ago on how bad the founders were:
"The Telltale Games team, including co-founders Kevin Bruner and Dan Connors, and The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, made their way onstage to accept the award. Kirkman accepted the large, black statue from Saldana with both hands and handed it off to Connors and Bruner. Bruner, in turn, gestured two others onstage: Sean Vanaman and Jake Rodkin, the project leads and co-creators of the game, thanking them for creating the game’s heroes. Neither of them was named onstage for their work in creating the studio’s biggest creative success. Shortly before two women in sparkly outfits ushered everyone offstage, Vanaman abruptly pulled the statue from Bruner’s hand in a moment that appeared unplanned and said, “We work with the most talented people on the planet.”
In the video you can see Robert Kirkman (walking dead) clapping and the co founders looking on awkwardly lmao.
Full article
Yeah hopefully everything turns out okay. It really doesn't help that the public reaction to this has been pretty toxic (from what I've seen). The r/games subreddit is filled with misinformation.
You’d be surprised how often this kind of thing happens and most of the time these types of cases get dropped before a verdict is even reached.
Even if Bruner wins we wouldn’t even get a verdict until 2020 or 2021 and hopefully by that time telltale will be in a better position financially.
Telltale needs to turn out okay for our sake. Singleplayer games that are story-orientated are declining in numbers. We have EA saying that nobody wants to play singleplayer games anymore, which is untrue.
We really need them to survive or that would be another singleplayer studio down the drain.
Oh. Um. Hmm... Really, Bruner?
Well this sucks. A lot.
As someone who isn't a major legal buff can someone try to explain to me what this is all about?
Is Bruner claiming that he's been locked out of selling his shares, or that he needs "recovery of financial damages" whatever that means.
This suit seems pretty unwarranted, but what do I know.
Well I just got more material to work with for my ANF review series. I was planning on discussing his exit from the company, theorizing that he was either forced out of the company by the board or he resigned in order to save face, and if this is an attempt by Bruner to get revenge on Telltale (which it appears to be) then this just makes it seem even less like a peaceful exit that was meant to be in the best interests of the company like Bruner said.
Im no expert at all but it seems like he wanted to sell his shares but is claiming Telltale wasnt informing him correctly on how much it was worth? Whole thing seems weird, feels like he would have sold his stock when he first left instead of now. Considering we know Bruner past actions its pretty obvious this is some type of loophole he is using to make into a larger issue just so he can sue Telltale.
Well I guess he is literally trying to destroy the company now
This isn’t gonna destroy telltale.
Not the best either, but I'll try to explain.
What Bruner seems to be claiming is that Telltale was not supplying him with the necessary information that he was requesting when it comes to his shares of both common and preferred stock that he still holds in Telltale, violating the contract agreed on by both him and Telltale.
Common stock is the generic and default type of stock a company offers to its investors, it represents equity ownership in a company, and while it's considered a higher risk, you get more reward out of it. Preferred stock acts somewhat similar, but also has some differences. Preferred stock is a sort of blend between common stock and bonds, making it much less risky than common. Preferred stockholders also get preferential treatment when it comes to dividends and when the company files for bankruptcy, but do not have the right to vote in company decisions, unlike common stockholders who do vote.
Most of my knowledge pertains to companies that are publicly traded, and since Telltale is a private company, this doesn't all apply to them. When it comes to publicly owned companies, there are certain laws they have to abide by, such as the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (which set up the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC) and regulations approved by the SEC. One of the requirements of public companies is that they have to constantly publish information regarding the company's financial stability and how well the company is performing, this comes through quarterly and annual reports. However, stockholders and investors can inquire at any time information regarding the company. Withholding any information from stockholders that prevents them from making a more informed decision regarding the state of their stock in the company is illegal. According to Bruner though, in his contract, Telltale is responsible for supplying him with the necessary information regarding the financial status of Telltale, and he's arguing that they haven't been giving it to him, thus preventing him from making those informed decisions. If he's telling the truth, than Telltale is guilty of breaching the terms of their contract.
If Bruner were to win, the contract can become null and void and Telltale would have to remedy this through the form of damages. The most obvious would be through compensatory damages, with some additional consequential, or "special," damages. This would be in the form of Telltale paying Bruner the value of what his stock was worth at a certain period of time to account for any devaluation of the stock. Another thing could be punitive damages, which are meant to deter future behavior and prevent engaging in similar practices.
If the company is under serious financial strain, as Telltale asserts, than it certainly won't be good for them, especially if they have to pay some hefty monetary damages to Bruner if they're found guilty. Plus it doesn't look good from an outsider's perspective, both as a consumer who's looking at buying the games, as well as a potential investor.
So TWD S4 will definitely not be canceled. Thank god.
Thanks. Informative.
wow
I'm assuming none of them are good.
Oh for Fuck's sakes Kevin Bruner can go fuck off!
...Haha what the fuck. It sucks when good people turn out to be so petty and childish.
not really? just because big name triple A games are largely consisting of multiplayer games doesn't mean that there aren't super talented developers (indie or otherwise) are constantly cranking out fantastic single player experiences. some of which are better than telltale's games.
Wise words
A lot is under seal, but the court's Register of Actions is not. It may be of interest to those who like to read legalistic things in ALL CAPS. I'm not a lawyer, but my interpretation is Kevin Bruner had an agreement with Telltale that Telltale had some say in who Kevin Bruner was allowed to sell his private stock to, and Kevin Bruner was not getting the cooperation needed to sell it.
http://apps.marincounty.org/BeaconRoa/BeaconROAView.aspx?cvl_case_intrnl_no=203284
The best thing that ever happened to Telltale was having this guy step down, and now he is coming back to sue? Completely shameless, this guy is literally the worst.
I'd recommend avoiding personal insults towards Bruner. Although Telltale probably appreciates that many fans are supporting them, personal insults will only lead to the thread being closed.
At least he/telltale survived the fall
This is probably one of the most accurate memes ever.
I remember that time way back people made memes of Kevin and I defended the guy because I didn’t think it was fair picking on a member of staff.
That was pre-verge and hearing what kind of human being he really is. Now hearing about this too? I have strong words. Bottom line? He’s only making himself look worse.
I’m on Telltale’s side. I think it’s petty revenge. Either way they’re much better off without him and I wish he’d leave them the heck alone.
How else would he find money to fund his new company?
This kinda reminds me of the end credits of Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan, in which Murray says, "Kevin Bruner. He's been around forever. Go away, old man!" This is truly weird.
I think Kevin Bruner has probably been a POS to his own staff and even to the Telltale ppl.He just a petty and useless man and who is trying to destroy what we love. Screw Him!
Bruner it seems was the type of manager who knew that Telltale was his...every game success was due to him....every misfire was due to letting the writing wonks have too much control. He of course was wrong in everything....Telltale games are collaborations...from the writers that he seemed to undercut at every turn...to the artists and programmers he pushed into soul crushing development cycles. Hey at least they had free pizza! Now I doubt one way or the other this will hurt Telltale any more than they were already. The company seems to be heading on the right path for now. But what this does do, is remind everyone of how poorly lead the men and women of this company were. It can be a bitter pill to have to remember this shit again. I almost think Telltale should sue him for mismanagement and unfair treatment of the employees under his leadership.
I just want to add that I am thoroughly amused by how Telltale holds so much contempt towards Bruner that they've made an exception to their "respect Telltale staff and alumni" rule for their own founder ?
I’m going to quote from Breaking Bad (with some changes) to Burner because I find it fits this situation.
“We had a good thing, you stupid son of a bitch! We had a good team, we had our fans, we had everything we needed, and it all ran like clockwork! You could have shut your mouth, helped, and made as much money as you ever needed! It was perfect! But no! You just had to blow it up! You, and your pride and your ego! You just had to be the man! If you'd done your job, known your place, we'd all be fine right now!”
I'll respect the rules.
I've heard many things about Kevin Bruner, none of them good. Him shooting down the ship hoping it will sink just because he's no longer on it tells a lot about who he is and that he doesn't and probably never has cared about the company. Fuck you, Kevin Bruner, you're a large chunk of the reason for Telltale's downfall
Is Kevin actually having a laugh? Suing the Company that he co-founded and built from the ground up? This is quite petty and ridiculous of him to do especially while Telltale is focusing on developing the conclusion to the story that gave him and Telltale global recognition. I do think Telltale will get through this and hopefully this whole complicated mess will show everyone in the Video Game industry the kind of guy that Kevin Bruner really is.
I apologise if my comments are deemed unsuitable by moderators or any Telltale Staff. I wish Telltale, Pete Hawley, the employees and Telltale's legal team the very best of luck with this ridiculous and disgraceful situation with someone who just proved to everyone that greed runs deep within him
Telltale Games Is Broke -The Know Game News KEVEN BRUNER FUCK YOU!!! Btw? Ashley Jenkins definitely wants The Wolf Among Us Season 2 and i bet she does cares about us here in Telltale Community.
1.11 Do not post personal information about a user or staff without their permission, including (but not limited to) names, pictures, etc. Do not make memes of users, moderators, or staff members (past and present).
I am sorry Poptarts. Hope all is well with you and everyone at Telltale.
...Now this is why we can't have nice mildly disconcerting things happen.
I hope you guys are doing okay! I hate seeing you guys get beaten down from assholes and I actually joined you guys almost 5 years ago and I haven't stop supporting you guys since then. I hope you guys continue to support your dreams as a company! ♥♥♥♥
Guess I missed that part of the rules, thanks for refreshing me @mostlypoptarts