Should Microsoft or THQ Nordic Buy Telltale Games?

Could Microsoft or THQ Nordic breathe new life into Telltale Games? Clementine will remember that.

[Araragifeels]

Hell no for MS. THQ Nordic would be a perfect home for telltale.

[NecrumOddBoy]

THQ Nordic is such an odd company. Like are they owned by Elon Musk? They can afford to buy all these properties but 99% of them aren't going anywhere. Just a strange business strategy.

[LaWiiG]

I do find that odd. There is a definite sign of quality vs. quantity, but they also have “some” quality franchises in there.

[Razmiran]

Its not that they are not going anywhere, they are still pretty new. Didnt they reform in 2017?

[porkChop]

THQ Nordic are still fairly small and new. I'm thinking they're building up a stable of studios and IP for next gen.

As for the franchises they've purchased, even the "bad" ones have interesting concepts and good potential for reboots. It'll be interesting to see where they are in 5 years.

[rainslacker]

Outside of a couple less popular ips that tt owns, they don't have much to offer that couldn't just be licensed directly from the company that owns the ip.

This makes tt less valuable than what their potential revenue is, because the bulk of their success and properties resides in things they don't own.

[Spurg]

Ms is perfect...they can afford the license

[LaWiiG]

Snatch’em while they’re cheap. Just adding to the roster of exclusive games. Heck, they need it.

[kneon]

But do they need these types of games? I've only tried a few tt games but they were boring.

did TT do any other types of games?

[rainslacker]

Or they could just get the license without having to buy the company. TT doesn't have much of worth beyond theirs studio name, the wolf among us, and some other ip that I can't remember.

I.guess that they could get a.studio.thats already up and running, but realistically, they already just brought 5 of them.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Just buy them Microsoft

[LaWiiG]

Would you want new franchises or continuation of the ones they’ve done?

[CyberSentinel]

Both.
More Batman, more Back to the Future, New Deadpool, New Punisher, New Superman, New Avengers, New X-men, New Star Wars, etc....

[fonger08]

No for either. You’re really only buying the name, but no original content. Their business model of telling stories (great for the most part) through licensed IPs obviously doesn’t work. All those licenses, Microsoft, Sony, or anyone could work directly with the owner to do a game or game series without Telltale.

[Gh05t]

This would be a perfect "Game Pass" fit. Episodic "games" that they can spread out and release new ones every 4-6 months of different stories. Its not my style of game but it wouldnt be the worst thing I could think of. Better this than letting the company go completely defunct. Or MS could just hire the newly released talent and start there own Minecraft story(mode) division at the very least.

[LaWiiG]

I don't think I'd have any problem with that. The MS MC studio is pretty diverse. The updates keep rollin' on for a game that released back in 2012 on console.

[rainslacker]

While I like TT games well enough, from a business perspective, it really doesn't make much sense to buy the studio. They don't have enough of their own assets to really make it worth the expenditure, when they could either start a new studio, or contract a third party much cheaper.

TT is in a tough situation, as they only have a couple of their own ips. While there is some value in their currently published games, the rights to those games specifically will probably be sold off due to any bankruptcy that's likely coming.

The licenses themselves, all these companies could easily just get from the ip holder, so essentially, all that would come from an acquisition would be an studio name, maybe a staff, and a couple ips, both of which aren't overly popular.

I think if any company wanted to make games like this they'd be better off just hiring some key creative people from the studio, and setting them up to be in charge of a newly established studio.

That being said, it's highly likely that TT shopped itself around before closing it's doors. If no one was interested, then, its not likely that anyone is going to.snatch them up now, and if they're goingn into bankruptcy, it'll be up to the courts and investors to decide on the sale of the company.

[capjacksparrow]

If anything, I'd want Sony to own them because they know what goes into publishing good single player, narrative driven games. Definitely not Microsoft though, you'd probably end up with some kind of multiplayer Telltale game.

[Razmiran]

Does buying telltale actually give you anything? I thought the rights they held (Walking dead, Minecraft, GoT and so on) reverted to the original owners once they filed for bankrupcy?

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

I’m certain Telltale didn’t own any significance IPs the studio relied on licensing.

[Razmiran]

I guess you get the rights to their original characters within those licenses? Clementine, Rhys, others?
Because if not, all this "X SHOULD BUY TELLTALE" is meaningless?

[rainslacker]

Assuming that they sold the company, those rights should be transferred to the new company, as when you buy a company, you gain all their assets and debt. There are some exceptions where a contract may say that's it isn't transferable though.

As it is now, most companies could just license the properties directly from the license holder was of buying a whole company.

TT own a the wolf among us, and some.other ip they worked on early in their studio life, but the name is escaping me.

You are correct that any original characters or artwork they created are their property....such a Clementine. But something like Marty Mcfly from bttf, wouldn't be, although their specific artwork may be

[Razmiran]

I see
The wolf among us isnt an original IP however, its based on the comic "Fables"

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Most likely no. Telltale as a studio doesn't have much value to be bought, they likely have lots of debit, no prestigious tech and lack big original IPs, plus a marginal amount of staff.

[Hedstrom]

I dont think anyone would want to see them in MS hands. And THQ Nordic are still very unproven. But some other third party would be cool.

[TheOpenWorlder]

No one will buy this failing business. This article is dumb just like PC Stupidity Invasion. There's a reason Telltale failed. Let it go people!

[LaWiiG]

Some of their properties, sure. Not all though.

[yomfweeee]

Microsoft buys out successful franchises and turns them to crap.

Now you think them buying a failing company and tired games is a good idea?

[LaWiiG]

Maybe the opposite will happen here? 😂

[The7Reaper]

I'll support Microsoft buying them if they keep the Telltale game multi platform.

[FloydianAndroid]

I liked every telltale game and I’ve played them all. I’m deeply saddened by this news. Phil, part of your plan was episodic service based games. This would be a great edition.

[ocelot07]

None as I don't trust Microsoft when it comes to single player games and THQ seem to buying a lot of IP's but not do anything with them.

Now Sony have a great reputation when it comes to single player so I wouldn't mind them buying them and sharing the IP's out with their studios.

[P_Bomb]

What are they buying though? What’s in a name when staff’s already gone their separate ways? The IP was all licensed.

OG G’n’R > Buckethead Chinese Democracy. No Slash, no Duff, no Izzy, no point.

[Bruh]

Business 101

The company's already liquidated licenses ( finishing Walking Dead) and has no assets to "buy" what are they going to be taking over exactly? What Microsoft can do is hire the teams working on the titles to their internal studios, as they just added a bunch of new ones and would be great for providing some support to these people, who just got fired with no severance

[JackBNimble]

I don't understand all the concern about TT games.
They went bankrupt because people were not buying their games. So why would anyone want to buy that company and take on that loss?

If they had the support from the "gamers" who claim to love them, then TT games would be going strong.

They were developing niche games, but at the end of the day you need the support from the wider audience.

It's to bad they couldn't continue, and I wish they devs best of luck in finding good employment.

[conanlifts]

They made some very good games. The issue is that they tried to make too many and tried to grow too fast. You can't make that many episodic games as people will get tired of them. They needed an alternative game type.

[conanlifts]

Episodic games are perfect for gamepass. I think they will at least buy the Minecraft story mode assets. It's not like anyone else can use them without permission.

[jznrpg]

MS is known for single player story games so why not ? Oh wait

[AK91]

MS they’ve got the money to buy more licenses but if they’re smart they’ll make it multi platform like Minecraft.

[DVAcme]

THQ Nordic? Not a bad idea.
Microsoft? HELL no. For it to end up like Rare? And limited just to the XBox platform? The only scenario worse than that is if EA bought them.

[Knightofelemia]

I'd like to see SquareEnix, Sony, Ubisoft, Sega, Namco buy up Telltales.

[inxine]

no for MS. let thq make the purchase