The Wolf Among Us 2 has been delayed to 2023 to avoid crush and burnout, Telltale confirms
Wolf Among Us 2 has been delayed to 2023, developer Telltale confirmed in a tweet. In a related interview with IGN, CEO Jimmy Ottilie attributed the delay to trying to avoid burnout and crisis. Moreover, the studio wants to avoid releasing an unfinished game as it shifts development from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. A sequel to the beloved episodic narrative based on Vertigo’s fables A series of graphic novels were announced back at The Game Awards 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a host of challenges to the newly formed company.
For starters, the original Telltale Games company filed for bankruptcy in 2018, which led to massive layoffs and the cancellation of any planned releases — one of which was The Wolf Among Us 2. However, in 2019, LCG Entertainment acquired Telltale’s assets and relaunched the company. , working under some industry experts and ex-developers who have worked on popular titles like The Walking Dead and Batman: The Telltale Series. But even as the studio announced its highly anticipated project, the development team was in its infancy, needing nearly two years to get it all ready. In the interview, Ottilie admitted that announcing the title in 2019 seemed like the right choice, as it would help them secure financing and support. For the record, this short teaser was created entirely from scratch. But given the decision, he regrets it, as the pandemic has slowed development and hiring.
Furthermore, Telltale recently made the decision to move to Unreal Engine 5. Ottilie stated that the developers and artists, who had been working on Unreal Engine 4 for years, felt the newer features were “worth the effort”. Of course, this meant reworking a large portion of the game, leaving the team with two choices – either release an unfinished game or force a crisis on their crew. Ottilie chose neither, instead pushing the game outside its 2023 release window.
“I did [crunch]“And I don’t want to do that again, and it’s not fair for me to ask,” Ottilie said in the interview. “You can’t plan a business around it. So yeah, part of it is about maintaining a healthy work culture. We do not want to burn our good people. It’s been incredibly challenging hiring in the last couple of years between COVID and the job markets and growth in the gaming industry.” The Wolf Among Us 2 is being developed with the help of AdHoc Studio, which consists of former Telltale Games employees.
as an introduction to the programme fables Graphic novels, The Wolf Among Us 2 takes place six months after the events of the first game, with protagonist Bigby Wolf now leading an investigation into a new mystery – presumably from Tin-Man and Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. The new chapter is set in winter, snowy New York, with a new administration on its way led by Snow White. Last year, the developers released a teaser trailer, confirming that The Wolf Among Us 2 will intertwine the world and events of Mundies (humans) and Fables (fictional characters).
Similar to previous Telltale Games entries, this game will be released in episodic format (5 episodes), but will only start rolling out once they are all ready. This prevents issues seen with the older Telltale system, where players had to wait months—until development finished—to access each new episode. But with this new form of development, all episodes should go down at a steady pace. With all that said, the studio still has The Expanse: A Telltale Series scheduled for release this year – created in collaboration with Nine Deck Games.
The Wolf Among Us 2 will now launch sometime in 2024.
For details on the latest launches and news from Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo and other companies at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, visit our MWC 2023 hub.