What's surprising, and especially sad, is that its left so many of it's employees out to dry. Is one of the worst examples of the industry.

That sucks. If there is def no more WD, I'm deleting the latest episode as I don't even want to play it halfway through.

I disagree with lots of points.
1) Ubisoft produces a lot of open world games in a market overflow with open world games and they are far from financial trouble. TTG was producing lots of points and click adventure games in a market where they were alone.

2)TTG games were buggy but the strength of their game was in the great storytelling and freedom.

Now here's my opinion on why they went out.

They were a small player in a big industry.
Just like any market, there's what's right and there the reality.
Reality is money talks, money to advertise, money to generate buzz. The kind of money that Activision, Sony, Nintendo have.
TTG games were barely advertised, almost zero media space in term of articles count, except for small review and preview.

Single player only
Let me ask you this simple question:
How many of you paid full price for TTG, Lego games, Sega single player game, etc.
Answer: no a lot
Like a lot of players, you probably waited until the game drop price or offered as a PS+ game.
Unfortunately, cost doesn't go down with time.

Tales from Borderlands, Wolf among us and Walking dead season 1 was very good games.

I honestly didnt know how this dev was staying afloat. Most of these games were mediocre at best to the majority of gamers. Sure these games have their following and people that LOVED them but that was prob few and far in between. These games were a nice commodity when (if) theres a drought and i had nothing else to play.

Tried too many projects at once imo

I tried to play their Game of Thrones title - it was awful, but I'm not a point and click fan. Hope they all get jobs soon and keep developing and designing titles for the point and click fans.

A rushed PS2 game, now that's just ridiculous. I will admit that I haven't played any since The Wolf Among Us. But that and the first 2 seasons of TWD looked like a moving graphic novel.

I’m so bummed out! I have loved every telltale game. I had no problems with how the Batman games ran at all. I was looking so forward to stranger things.

I played the first Walking Dead game by TT it was fun but all their games were in that formula & I think the formula started to become stale & played out including the dated graphics so folks started becoming uninterested in playing them which caused a decline in sales so the company has tanked..

It's surprising because they were constantly announcing new things. I figured that any company putting out that much content must be seeing a return on it.

Its not shocking overall they had a few hits but their misses were stacking up.

Also they constantly gave their best work out for free via ps plus or extremely cheap on humble bundle I really enjoyed their twd series but if I just waited 6 months post launch the entire thing would be free.

Also episodic content felt quite slow the delay between chapters was to long I would only get the games when the entire season was released which also meant they were allot cheaper or free

Everything's going to shit.

Too many projects cannabalizing each other from both the supply and demand side.

hindsight article -_-

If they made games like The Woft Among Us more often then they would’ve been fine but their quality declined and it didn’t translate well to sales

Wish they did a Season 2 of Game of Thrones before they left...

Hey everybody... they haven't officially closed yet. Which is a very important aspect of why their teams are being shafted in some cases. They are running on a small skeleton crew but they are likely going to liquidate assets and then close down or look for some other avenue to become solvent once again. What they have done is shafted their workers in hopes of saving themselves from complete bankruptcy. Business move yes but not one that ever puts a good look on a company.

I feel like they chose certain IPs that actually worked against them. The Walking Dead works great because you can easily set up scenarios with different consequences and heartbreaking decisions. The Wolf Among Us was niche enough but ripe for storytelling and had an intriguing concept and world, gaining interest from tons of people who had never even heard of the comics.

But Tales From The Borderlands? I doubt many people who weren't fans of the original games picked this up as otherwise you're only getting part of the story. Batman? To me it felt like: "Why would I play this when I can play the Arkham games?" Not to say that Bats isn't ripe for storytelling, but it's far more ripe for an action adventure, and at first glance looks like a cash grab. Minecraft Story Mode? Don't know what they were thinking. These things combined with the fact their games were largely identical in structure, visuals, mechanics etc meant people switched off quickly.

its a shame really. i thought wolf among us and the Borderlands game were incredible.

I feel like they simply put out too many similar games in a short amount of time.

They used the same formula one time too many

They went downhill with GoT. Such a redone and bland plot.

The Batman ones were decent, but too much by the numbers stories in between with other licenses. Should have pushed for TWAU2 instead of Minecraft and Game of Thrones.

Here's a tip...shut the f*** up

All they care about is the money. It's pure greed, and it's disgusting

Them: "We've figured out a way to squeeze you of more money, come on let us stick it in."
Us: "No."
Them: "Please! just the tip."
Us: "That's how it always starts."

Where's that tip is actually going the CEOs pocket.

"Interesting concept"?! This is beyond idiotic.

First of all, developers have a salary and they earn a pretty decent wage.
Next, tipping culture is awful overall and should be abolished, i think. People don't see it as a token of gratitude for the job done well (as it should be), they see it as their own money that you must give them, no matter how they do the job. Look at some places, tips became mandatory and they are a fixed percent of your order, for some reason (especially in kids playrooms). You'll give them an inch and they'll take a mile and then another one on top. Look at macrotransactions, started on free to play games, was costing around $2-$5, now it's everywhere, even in $70 AAA games and cost more than a game, up to $100.
On top of that, you'll have to waste resources adding this system, integrate with payment providers and fix the bugs, who will do that? What, another company should make it and take a fee from every transaction? No, thanks, there're already enough parasites around.

Even if we ignore that this is dumb idea and should never be a thing ever:
Who can guarantee that the money will go to developers ONLY? That's right, no one.
How many developers are working on a AAA game? 100+? Who would you tip, some particular developer? How would you know who? All 100? The wouldn't even notice a few cents bonus.

Hey, as long as we're throwing (dumb) ideas around - how about the other way around, CEOs and top management will tip the players who play their game? I read everywhere about the record profits and firing development staff, yet CEOs and top management are keeping theirs, so how about sharing some of your wealth? Oh, what, you don't want that? Oh, i guess it should only work in your favor, huh?

It’s called Kickstarter, since 99% of games are broken upon release and are essentially still in development.

Tipping culture is getting out of hand. I just see this as moving in a direction where employers no longer want to be held accountable for their employee’s salaries or investments.

Why aren’t you showing your appreciation and providing me with a tip for purchasing your game? Did I do something wrong by only dropping $130+ on your Ultimate Edition that is plagued with matchmaking issues for the next 2-3 months and only includes a bonus game soundtrack that is totally forgettable?

Just the tip?

Give me the option by all means. I can then choose to refuse.

We will then immediately see games designed from the ground up around tipping.

Yeah tipping the developer only to find later that he was laid off.

I'd like to tip a few off a cliff

How about they get paid a proper wage.
American tipping culture is just madness I've seen it's starting to expand beyond just waiters and Batista's into things like real estate agents and self service kiosks like at Macdonalds along with other place's it should never even be considering I don't tip anyone in Australia ever and no one is mad about it.

I think the developers should tip us for essentially buying dome $70 games to basically play test. Doesn’t really sound so good does it? Y’all make more than most people and still want more.

Fuck off

Whats next, I dont tip and then they remove my access to the game?

This wouldn't work for games published by a big company, of course. But it could work for smaller indie game projects that have a very low cost, such as a $5 game made by 3 people, and you can choose to tip them an extra $3 - $5 as a sign of appreciation.

However, this would be a disgusting practice if it was allowed for games published by Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, EA, Namco, Capcom, S-E, Sega, etc.

On top of $70 games? No

This is how food delivery apps put more of the responsibility and cost on the customer. Blizzard finds the sleaziest managers.

Give me a f@cking break!

First thet introduce tips, then they cut pay as much as possible, so they can profit more.

I could see this being a cool thing for Indies. But often you can do just that already if they have a patreon or something similar. For major developer companies that would be super silly, to start there is a huge chance that the devs that worked on that particular game has already been fired as the project is over. And obviously the money would not reach the developers that are still there, the suits would gobble it all up.

Also we all know that if this get implemented by a American. It would stop being a small bonus for good work and become a integral part of the salary of the devs in no time.

I'll be honest I don't think I'm 100% against this. Like it would be a very rare thing for me. It would only donate/tip Devs that have not only made a incredible game. But also don't make me feel like I'm getting nicked and dimed.

I love it when these CEOs and the ilk speak about the video game industry. They say the wildest, headscratching rubbish that only seems reasonable to a soulless husk whose myopic pursuit of profit make it seem reasonable to him and him alone.

Tipping culture is out of hand and it needs to stop.

excuse me? lol

To Mike Ybarra, In the words of Elon Musk, "go fk yourself!" Is that clear enough.

They're trying to be restaurant owners 😂😂 have the consumer pay for their wages smh

In a couple of years:

Horse DLC $80 dollars.. oh you buy it! Wanna tip another $20 for the demon son of Bobby Kottick?!

Go work in a restaurant if you want to work for tips. You get no insurance and paid $5/hr.

How about you make something worth buying? He can blame constant video game sales if anything. Most Games are half price in just months.

Everyone knows games go on sale constantly, devs need to make and market properly and maybe we get excited enough to drop $70. I remember seeing WAY more game commercials back in the day. They don’t spend money marketing anymore and just expect us to build hype on our own when day one gaming is risky. These devs have F’d up so many times and just fix via patches…this is bullshit and why we all just wait for your buggy rushed game to go on sale.

Wow that sounds like a wonderful idea
Then the multi billion dollar company wouldn't have to pay them as much
And if there's one company I trust with this stuff, it's blizzard
Always thinking about the little guy

My 'tip' is buying good games.

Oh yeah so then blizzard can justify paying employees less. What a scummy dude

These games are produced for the most part at multiple million to trillion dollar companies. How about they be fiscally responsible with scope and budget so they can pay the developers better. It is not the consumers responsibility to bail out failing business plans.

How about NO!

The USA doesn't understand tippIng....knowing them they'd reduce wages across the board for all devs in order to guilt trip customers to tip.

No no no no no no no way in hell would I ever support ANOTHER tipping avenue. "Oh it's optional" you say? Say that to the "forced 20% gratuity on some checks". What next? Unskippable 1 minute donation begging before we can play so they can write it off in their taxes?

Look at that stupid smile...

I'm not gonna tip you when I have to pay 30 dollars extra for 2 days of early access. You should have probably also tipped your coworker when she got paid less for the exact same role you were given and didn't say a word about it.

Oh what was that? I should torrent more games on PC? Don't mind if I do. LOL I have the Starcraft collection already what else shall I take hmmmm...

I thought micro transactions was tips...

The moment they implement that option, they will reduce the developers' pay and expect tips to makeup the difference.

Tipping is a wonderful thing to do, but an executive is the last person who should suggest it for an industry. This is just shady.

Actually, if I buy a game on sale, I would be open if the funds went to the developer NOT the publisher. For example, buy a $70 game at $39.99. If the game is great and updated properly, I would tip $10.

Okay but if your game is trash, then it's only fair you pay me for having to go through that hardship of spending my money on a terrible game.

If games did not have microtransactions and released complete and games weren't broken on release and patched later then this might have a little bit of merit. Non multiplayer games connected to the internet have lead to intolerable experiences.

If you want the ability to give tips then totally stop selling MT’s and battle passes and I will consider it.

What a pure idiot. Stupid is what stupid does……so don’t be on the “does” category.

Don't these guys earn enough?

Here’s to incoming “your tips make up for it” salary cuts

Mike Ybarra is a joke. This man goes from company to company like the town wh*re.

I didn’t like him at Microsoft, didn’t like him at Blizzard. And while I would tip developers who deserve it.

I’ll never tip developers who are more than happy to force diversity and inclusion just because.

If it makes sense for the story and game okay. But often times it’s just there to check DEI boxes.