by Telltale Games has delayed The Wolf Among Us 2: A Telltale Series from the previously planned release window of 2023 to “out of 2023”. It will be available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC via the Epic Games Store.
When asked if this meant the game will be released in 2024, a Telltale Games representative said it can only confirm that the game’s release date is “not in 2023.” While the studio is aiming for 2024, it has yet to set a new release date or time, and is reluctant to provide a release window until one is confirmed internally.
The representative told Gematsu: “If you were to ask our CEO (Jamie Ottilie), his answer is ‘when it’s ready’, as we certainly didn’t foresee any of the challenges in the last few years since we relaunched the company (the pandemic, lack of hiring etc.).”
Telltale Games CEO Jamie Ottilie spoke with IGN and discussed the delay further.
“If we put this game out there and it’s not ready, we’re going to be torn apart,” Ottilie said. “The expectations are pretty high and we want to have time to meet them and we want to be proud of that and know that, ‘Hey, this is the best game we could have made.'” Let the world say what they want (for once) it’s done, but at least we know that in these times, under these conditions, this is the best game we can make.”
Ottilie said the studio could have “crashed” to get the game out in 2023, but that option was never on the table.
“I’ve done (crunching) and I don’t want to do it again and it’s not fair to ask,” Ottilie said. “You can’t plan a business around that. So yes, part of it is about maintaining a healthy work culture. We don’t want to burn out our good people. Recruiting has been incredibly difficult over the past two years between COVID and the job markets and the growth of the gaming industry. So absolutely, burning them out or grinding them down is the wrong thing to do in the long run. That’s not how you build a business. And as an industry, we’re terrible at it. We are burning our people out. We burn out our best people faster. And as an industry, if we’re going to keep growing, we have to stop it. We just have to stop doing that and make better choices.”
Here is the full message from Telltale Games about the delay:
…an important update for The Wolf Among Us 2.
We have made the difficult decision to postpone The Wolf Among Us 2 out of 2023.
We know, it’s frustrating to hear.
We started work on this in 2020, and we’re still committed to telling the ongoing story of Bigby and the rest of the Fabletown gang. However, it will take more time. As disappointed as you are to hear this, we feel worse having to say it.
But the work continues.
We are committed to delivering the sequel the fans deserve and doing what is right for the game while protecting the health of our team.
We appreciate your patience and understanding.
— The Telltale team
