The Wolf Among Us 2 Delayed Out Of 2023 To Avoid Crack And Burnout, Telltale Confirms

The Wolf Among Us 2 has been delayed from 2023, developer Telltale confirmed in a tweet. In a related interview with IGN, CEO Jamie Ottilie attributed the delay to an effort to avoid burnout and crisis. Additionally, the studio wants to avoid releasing an unfinished game as it shifts development from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. The sequel to the beloved Vertigo-based episodic story Fables graphic novel series was announced at The Game Awards 2019. However, the COVID-19 pandemic raised a bunch of challenges for the newly formed company.

For the uninitiated, the original Telltale Games filed for bankruptcy in 2018, leading to mass layoffs and the cancellation of all planned releases – one of them being The Wolf Among Us 2. However, in 2019 , LCG Entertainment acquired the assets of Telltale and relaunched the company, operating under the leadership of industry veterans and ex-developers who worked on acclaimed titles such as 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 about two years to complete. In the interview, Ottilie admitted that announcing the title in 2019 seemed like the right choice, as it would help them get funding and support. For the record, this brief teaser was made entirely from scratch. But looking back on the decision, he regrets it, as the pandemic has slowed development and hiring.

Additionally, Telltale recently made the decision to upgrade to Unreal Engine 5. Ottilie said the developers and artists, who had been working on Unreal Engine 4 for years, felt the new features were “worth it”. Of course, that means reworking a good chunk of the game, leaving the team with two options – either release an unfinished game or force a crunch on their staff. Ottilie opted for neither and instead pushed the game out of the 2023 release window.

“I did (crunch), and I don’t want to do it again, and it’s not fair to ask,” Ottilie said in the interview. “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 exhaust our good people. It’s been incredibly difficult to recruit over the past couple of years between COVID and labor markets and the growth of the games industry. The Wolf Among Us 2 is developed with the help of AdHoc Studio, made up of former employees of Telltale Games.

As a prequel to Fables graphic novels, The Wolf Among Us 2 is set six months after the events of the first game, with protagonist Bigby Wolf now leading an investigation into a new mystery – presumably involving Tin-Man and Scarecrow from “The Wizard of Oz”. The new chapter is set in a wintery New York sunk in snow, with a new administration in motion, led by Snow White. Last year, the developers released a trailer, confirming that The Wolf Among Us 2 will intertwine the world and events of the Mundies (humans) and Fables (fairy tale characters).

Similar to past entries from Telltale Games, this game will release in an episodic format (5 episodes), but will only begin rolling out once they are all ready. This avoids the problems experienced with the old Telltale regime, where players had to wait months – until development was complete – to gain access to each new episode. Thanks to this new development format, however, all episodes should drop at a steady pace. That said, the studio still has The Expanse: A Telltale Series slated for release this year – created in collaboration with Nine Deck Games.

The Wolf Among Us 2 will now be released in 2024.