Telltale raises funding for next batch of narrative games

Telltale has raised a new round of funding for its narrative-based video games like The Wolf Among Us 2 and The Expanse.

The Series A money came from Hiro Capital and Skybound Entertainment. This funding will help Telltale bring its first new games to market, such as the highly-anticipated The Expanse: A Telltale Series, slated for release this Summer, and The Wolf Among Us 2. The funding amount wasn’t disclosed.

“We are honored to have the confidence of Hiro Capital, a fund that is committed to the future of the games industry, and that of our colleagues at Skybound Entertainment,” said Jamie Ottilie, CEO at Telltale, in a statement. “It’s both a pleasure and a natural fit to be affiliated with companies that share our commitment to narrative games and transmedia entertainment.”

This investment pairs Telltale, a pioneer in the episodic narrative adventure genre, with well-known game industry pioneer Sir Ian Livingstone (CBE). Knighted last year for his services to the online games industry, Livingstone is best known as the co-founder of the twenty million-selling Fighting Fantasy series of narrative role-playing books and for co-founding two billion-dollar game companies, Games Workshop and Eidos Interactive. Together with the Hiro Capital team, he has cofounded or backed more than $9 billion in leading games, sports, and technology companies.

“The guiding tenets of great storytelling and fun gameplay have always been at the heart of everything I’ve built or invested in over the past fifty years. I’m delighted to be backing the new Telltale and their vision to build the next generation of narrative adventure games,” said Livingstone, in a statement.

Telltale and Skybound Entertainment first partnered on the extremely successful The Walking Dead series of episodic games based on Skybound’s popular comic books in 2012. The Walking Dead episodes released over the course of 6 years, with Skybound acting as publisher since 2018.

“Telltale and Skybound have a long and incredibly successful history together that forever changed the way stories are told in video games,” said David Alpert, CEO, Skybound Entertainment, in a statement. “It has been just over 10 years, hundreds of millions of dollars and over 100 Game of the Year awards since Telltale released the acclaimed first title in The Walking Dead series. We continue to believe in the power of narrative gaming and this investment will allow us to support Telltale in telling even more amazing stories.”

Relaunched in 2019, the new Telltale is focused on building a company that respects the works and reputation of the former company while striving to be more efficient, flexible and sustainable in the current industry environment and beyond. A strategic and integral part of that plan is partnering with the best teams, talent and IPs to bring great stories to life through distributed development.

One example of that plan in action is the collaboration happening with The Expanse: A Telltale Series. Deck Nine Games is leading the development, supported by the executive team at Telltale to create a new story in The Expanse universe created by James S.A. Corey. This bringing together of key talent, rich IPs, creative leadership and a shared dedication to storytelling is core to the Telltale’s mission.

“Together with our outstanding partners at Deck Nine, we are eager to show our fans how we have honored the Telltale legacy and evolved the episodic narrative genre for which the company is best known,” continued Ottilie. ”These investments will help us realize that vision.”