Telltale co-founder: "I've done everything within my power to prevent today from happening"
Former Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner was ousted in 2017, but shares his love for what the studio accomplished.
The story is still evolving, but we learned today that Telltale Games has let go of over 200 employees with a small team left behind to finish The Walking Dead: The Final Season before, potentially, completely closing. Telltale co-founder Kevin Bruner, who was ousted by new investors in 2017, shared his own sentiments regarding the layoffs.
Kevin Bruner spoke with Gamesbeat about today's unfortunate events, saying “I can say that I’ve done everything within my power to prevent today from happening. I’ve never wanted anything more than for Telltale to thrive." Bruner sued Telltale earlier this year for pushing him out and the case is ongoing. Here's the full letter from Bruner's personal blog:
Today is a very, very sad day.
I left Telltale a year and a half ago after an extended period where the Board of Directors and I had very different visions of Telltale’s future and how we might get there. That was one of the hardest times of my professional life, but in the end the company is controlled by its Board of Directors and I respected their decisions throughout.
As a co-founder, I take an enormous amount of pride that we were able to build the kind of games that I am immensely passionate about creating, exploring, evolving, and perfecting (if that’s even possible). We built a significant new brand, helped define a new genre, and thrived for more than a decade.
We pursued projects that no one else would consider. The Walking Dead, Tales from the Borderlands, The Wolf Among Us, Batman, Minecraft, Puzzle Agent, Poker Night and Sam & Max are the kind of projects I personally loved and I poured my heart and soul into each one. Those are the kind of projects no other publisher or studio would touch. We chose to venture where others dared not go, and we found some success along the way. It took a lot of vision, luck, will power, teamwork, talent, and very long days and nights to get there, but it will forever have been worth it.
And we did it all while growing, attracting some of the most talented people I’ve ever known. We were equally passionate about making sure our employees always had a home. Prior to my leaving, we were able to avoid sweeping layoffs and (somehow) managed to ensure that we always had work for everyone. We worked hard and sometimes it seemed like we had more than we could handle but we stuck together and forged ahead.
Today, I’m mostly saddened for the people who are losing their jobs at a studio they love. And I’m also saddened at the loss of a studio that green-lit crazy ideas that no one else would consider. I’m comforted a bit knowing there are now so many new talented people and studios creating games in the evolving narrative genre. While I look forward to those games and new developments, and continuing to contribute, I will always find “A Telltale Game” to have been a unique offering.
I know that Telltale will be remembered fondly for what it has done best.
Kevin
co-founder, Telltale Games.
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