Telltale Games has delayed The Wolf Among Us 2 to 2024
In a bid to avoid crunch and deliver “the sequel fans deserve”
Telltale Games has delayed the release of The Wolf Among Us 2.
Announced last February and previously due to arrive this year, the game is now scheduled for release in 2024.
“We’ve made the difficult decision to delay The Wolf Among Us 2 out of 2023,” Telltale said on Wednesday.
“We started work on this in 2020 and we’re still determined to tell the ongoing story of Bigby and the rest of the Fabletown gang. However, it is going to require more time. As disappointed as you are hearing this, we feel worse having to say it.
“We’re committed to delivering the sequel fans deserve and doing what’s right for the game while protecting the health of our team.”
The Wolf Among Us 2 is the sequel to the 2013/14 episodic thriller based on Bill Willingham’s Fables comic book series.
It will be available for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC via the Epic Games Store.
Commenting further on the delay, Telltale CEO Jamie Ottilie told IGN that the studio switched from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal 5 for the game’s development, which required redoing “quite a bit of work”.
In order to hit its previously targeted 2023 launch window, Ottilie said Telltale would either have had to ship an unfinished product or crunch.
“If we put this game out and it’s not ready, we’re going to get torn to shreds,” he said. “The expectations are pretty high, and we want time to meet those and we want to be proud of it and know that, ‘Hey, this is the best game we could have made.’”
He added: “I’ve done [crunch], and I don’t want to do it again, and it’s not fair to ask it. 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.”
Ottilie previously said the game will be released episodically, possibly in a weekly format similar to TV shows, and that all content will be completed before the first episode debuts.