New Lengthy Jamie Otillie Interview: “We cannot right the wrongs of the former company”

https://gamedaily.biz/article/1478/telltale-20-we-cannot-right-the-wrongs-of-the-former-company

Great long read. Looks like Telltale is opening positions in a few weeks and they’re aiming for 30-35 employees by the end of 2020.

Comments

  • Great interview, I feel bad for Jamie, as he is being held responsible for something he had no part in. I understand the skepticism towards the Telltale Brand, but this isn't Old Telltale, this has no ties to Old Telltale, Jamie has no intentions of repeating the mistakes of Old Telltale, so why continue to hold him accountable for what Old Telltale did? I'll be so happy to see all of those doubters and skeptics hush when they see what's in store from New Telltale.

    As for former Telltale Devs, I completely understand how they feel about Telltale being revived, it was a traumatic event for them, and that trauma was induced by Telltale. Their anger and sadness isn't directed at Jamie, it's at Telltale.

    I have seen a handful of comments on here asking why are they still upset over the layoffs, but we can't comprehend that as we didn't experience it ourselves, from the outside, we may eventually come to terms and move on, but being a part of such a Community within a Company that was, according to the noclip documentary, like a family, they may never be able to move on from such an event, but I genuinely hope they do overcome it. My heart goes out to them.

    Apologies for the super long comment

  • The article sounds reassuring. I do believe that we should give the new Telltale a chance. I like that they are planning to grow slowly rather than quickly as the former did. In retrospect, this is what the former company should have done after TWD 1. Take things slowly and innovate.

  • This New Telltale is sounding very promising and already showing they have way more care in what they are producing than Old Telltale was. Sucks there is so much wrong info out there mostly due to a ton of people who are not aware what was going on at Telltale when it reached its final days but act like they do know what was going on.

  • edited December 2019

    Oh yeah, great interview. I do feel bad for Jamie seeing his new company revival is getting lots of misinformation-ed hate. Hopefully it'll die down soon, and when Telltale's ready to show off their next stuff, people won't immediately discount them as a joke brand. At the very least if all goes well for Wolf 2, that should fully solidify that they're doing good for the company.

    Problem is, I've seen lots of comments online about people wanting New Telltale to compensate the laid off employees of last year. While that would be a great thing to do... how the hell would they do that, internet?? Where's the money coming from??

    Gosh, this just makes me sad.

    Anyways, here's some good stuff:

    “We are focused on hiring the right talent for each role - people committed to making great games in the style for which Telltale is renowned. But, to set the record straight, we aren’t going to create unnecessary jobs for the purpose of hiring former Telltale employees. As much as we dislike what happened to that talented team, we cannot right the wrongs of the former company. We're building a new Telltale to make great games and tell interesting stories. We'll hire the best people we can for every role that we open and, yes, many of the people we are talking to or are interested in working with are former TTG employees...

    “Most of the freelancers we've worked with over the last six months are former Telltale employees -- and are quite happy about how they've been treated by us. Beyond that, we can’t get distracted with what anyone on Twitter thinks of our hiring practices. What matters is how the people we hire actually are treated, the company culture we are building, and ensuring that we are working with the best people in each role.”

    “Our approach is pretty simple. Hire the best people you can for every role. Empower them to do their jobs. Provide them with an environment where being great at what you do is recognized and rewarded,” he said. “Create a culture where people want to contribute their best, but also recognizes they have lives in which they need to be happy. In short, ‘come to work, do good stuff while you are here, then go home and have a life – be happy’.”

  • I believe in THEM :)

  • edited December 2019

    Honestly, all Jamie Ottilie said in this interview seems to make sense. So yeah, I wish the new Telltale good luck and I hope everything will work out fine for them.

  • Much better than Kevin Bruner.

  • edited December 2019

    anyone is better than Kevin Bruner as long as they don't run the company into the ground

    Ghetsis posted: »

    Much better than Kevin Bruner.

  • Screw him, glad he's gone

    Ghetsis posted: »

    Much better than Kevin Bruner.

  • Hopefully this means we can finally have Bill Farmer and Nick Jameson voice Sam and Max again!

    Screw him, glad he's gone

  • Anyone is better than that goddamn goatee bearded prick Bruner.

    Ghetsis posted: »

    Much better than Kevin Bruner.

  • Because I secretly have a crush on him.

  • See, guys!
    Its nazi propaganda!

    BigBadPaul posted: »

    Because I secretly have a crush on him.

  • Who doesn't?
    ⁿᵒ ᵒⁿᵉ ᶦˢ ˢᵉˣᶦᵉʳ ᵗʰᵃⁿ ˡᵒᵃᵈᵉʳ ᵇᵒᵗ ᵗʰᵒᵘᵍʰ

    BigBadPaul posted: »

    Because I secretly have a crush on him.

  • A company isnt the only thing he can fuck 😳

    BigBadPaul posted: »

    Because I secretly have a crush on him.

  • edited December 2019

    Too far, man. Too far.

    Poogers555 posted: »

    A company isnt the only thing he can fuck 😳

  • Loader bot is a pretty close second for me in terms of crushingness.

    Third would be Alfred.

    Pipas posted: »

    Who doesn't? ⁿᵒ ᵒⁿᵉ ᶦˢ ˢᵉˣᶦᵉʳ ᵗʰᵃⁿ ˡᵒᵃᵈᵉʳ ᵇᵒᵗ ᵗʰᵒᵘᵍʰ

  • edited December 2019

    If there is one thing that Kevin Bruner cannot solve, it's definitely issues.

  • Yeah, I probably shouldn't be drinking while reading these discussions.

    Poogers555 posted: »

    A company isnt the only thing he can fuck 😳

  • Well, if it helps, I'm sober.

    Ghetsis posted: »

    Yeah, I probably shouldn't be drinking while reading these discussions.

  • One big oof, to solve a sad big oof.

    lattsam posted: »

    Well, if it helps, I'm sober.

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