Film Distributor Lionsgate Teams Up With Telltale Games

Television and film distributor Lionsgate has announced that it has made an investment in game developer Telltale Games. While no announcements have been made yet, it is possible that Telltale Games will make The Hunger Games of Twilight.

The deal between Lionsgate and Telltale Games gives Telltale a financial boost. In addition, Lionsgate boss Jon Feltheimer will join Telltale’s Board of Directors. Feltheimer isn’t the only new name to meddle with Telltale; former director of Electronic Arts John Riccitiello also joins the board. The appointment of Riccitiello, who in response praised the storytelling method Telltale uses in its games, is not part of the Lionsgate agreement, but was announced on the same day, Eurogamer reports.

Despite the lack of concrete announcements, it seems clear that Lionsgate and Telltale will join forces to create a new kind of ‘Super Show’. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Telltale studio boss Kevin Bruner said the Lionsgate deal will help Telltale start a new kind of franchise that would include both games and TV shows. According to Bruner, the show should be considered for a television award as well as a Golden Globe, as well as competing for “Game of the Year” titles. This makes the unannounced project comparable to Microsoft’s Quantum Break, which is also presented as a television show and game.

Whether Telltale will also interfere with the other titles owned by Lionsgate in the future is not yet known. Lionsgate is the distributor behind major franchises such as The Hunger Games, Twilight and Saw. The latter title has already been used by the Japanese publisher Konami for a game, while the other two titles seem to lend themselves well to a game. Telltale seems to have its hands full for now though; the studio has three more Game of Thrones episodes to release, will release a new season of The Walking Dead later this year, and is also working on a Minecraft narrative spin-off.