LogInThe studio says that the primary reasons for the decision were avoiding crunch or releasing an incomplete game.
Developer Telltale Games announced that The Wolf Among Us 2, the highly-anticipated sequel to 2013's The Wolf Among Us, has been delayed out of its 2023 launch window and into 2024.
The studio announced the news on Twitter saying that the team is "still determined to tell the ongoing story of Bigby," although "it is going to require more time."
"As disappointed as you are hearing this, we feel worse having to say it. But the work continues," Telltale Games wrote. "We're committed to delivering the sequel fans deserve and doing what's right for the game while protecting the health of our team."
In an interview with IGN, Telltale Games CEO Jamie Ottilie explained that the team's decision was based on several reasons, with the primary aim being to prevent burnout or release an incomplete game.
Ottilie mentioned that staffing up the resurrected studio had been challenging due to the pandemic. He also stated that had he been aware of other upcoming factors like the pandemic at the time of the game's announcement in 2019, he might have delayed the announcement.
Another factor that influenced the team's decision to postpone the game was the game’s switch from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. While Ottilie believes that the decision is "worth the effort," he admits that this means that the devs have to redo "quite a bit of work" that was already done in UE4.
Taking all of this into consideration, Ottilie explained that there would have been only two possible ways to meet the 2023 release window. The first option would have been to release an incomplete game, but this was not a viable option as the team would have faced harsh criticism due to the high expectations for the title. The second option would have been to crunch, but the studio head expressed that he did not want to put the team through that.
"I've done [crunch], and I don't want to do it again, and it's not fair to ask it," Ottilie said. "You can't plan a business around it. So yeah, part of it is about maintaining a healthy work culture. We don't want to burn out our good people."
You can learn more by reading the full interview here. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform, our Reddit page, and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.