September 22, 2018

The news today that Telltale Games is closing its doors hits us very hard here at Deck Nine Games. Very few studios in our industry can claim to have resurrected an entire genre, but Telltale did exactly that, and did it singlehandedly. The word most associated with adventure games in 2004 was “dead.” Everyone knew it. Except Telltale.

First with joyful puzzle-centric adventure games like Sam & Max and Tales of Monkey Island, which reminded gamers why we loved the genre in the 1990s, and then with the revolutionary The Walking Dead in 2011, Telltale not only awoke a dormant market, it made storytelling in video games vital again. As a studio dedicated to creating rich narrative experiences with a cinematic flavor, Deck Nine would not be what it is today without Telltale Games’ pioneering work and passionate pursuit of great stories.

Five minutes into The Walking Dead, you knew you were playing something extraordinary and new. For me, it was the feeling of inhabiting real characters and the gut-wrenching nature of the game’s choices that reconfigured my thinking about stories in games.

— Mark Lyons, Founder & President Telltale and The Walking Dead gave us space to leap into cinematic adventure games as a studio. They proved not only that video games were capable of telling meaningful, human stories, but also that gamers of all types had an appetite for that kind of moving, sometimes agonizing, narrative-first experience.

— Jeff Litchford, Vice President The disappearance of Telltale as a studio is stunning and disorienting news for those of us who care about storytelling in video games.

— Chris Floyd, Game Director Narrative giants. Every member of Telltale did more than just make incredible games — they furthered the craft and changed the industry. I think game writers everywhere owe them for that.

— Zak Garriss, Narrative Director With heavy hearts, Deck Nine Games would like to thank everyone involved in Telltale Games’ incredible work over the years for challenging and inspiring us as developers and entertaining us as gamers.

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