Those eager for a return to Fabletown are going to have to practice their patience, because today Telltale Games announced The Wolf Among Us 2 will be delayed beyond 2023. A new release window for the game has not been set.
We’ve made the difficult decision to delay The Wolf Among Us 2 #TWAU2.
To give more context, we spoke with IGN: https://t.co/afoCUHZwIy pic.twitter.com/KhrAfIrwYB
— Telltale Games (@telltalegames) March 1, 2023
“...an important update for The Wolf Among Us 2. We've made the difficult decision to delay The Wolf Among Us 2 out of 2023. We know, it's frustrating to hear. 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 even worse having to say it. But the work continues.
We're committed to delivering the sequel fans deserve and doing what's right for the game while protecting the health of our team. We appreciate your patience and understanding.”
The Wolf Among Us 2 is being developed by many of the same people who made the original, but the “Telltale” behind the game is actually a new company founded after the original studio went bankrupt. The OG Telltale was infamous for rushed schedules and backbreaking crunch, so it’s good to hear that the new Telltale is prioritizing the wellbeing of the development team. Telltale Games CEO Jamie Ottilie made his position on crunch clear in an IGN interview…
“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. […] Burning people out or grinding them down is the wrong thing to do long-term. It's not how you build a business.”
Here’s hoping the extra time results in a sequel that not only lives up to the original game, but potentially surpasses it. Ottilie also confirms that The Wolf Among Us 2 has switched to Unreal Engine 5, which should result in a nicer-looking, better-optimized game, but also means some work originally made using UE4 has to be redone.
The Wolf Among Us 2 is coming to “PC and consoles," but further details have yet to be be provided.