The Wolf Among Us is a narrative game by Telltale Games. A second episode has been planned since 2017, but numerous twists and turns have pushed back the project.
The Wolf Among Us is a narrative game from Telltale Games inspired by the Fables comics by Bill Willingham. While the studio has undergone many adventures since the announcement in 2017 of the second part of BigBy Wolf’s adventures in Fableville, fans do not seem to be at the end of their surprises. The creator of the comics that inspired the game recently spoke out to make a surprising announcement. The author notably explains numerous rights issues related to the series and his decision following this.
The story behind The Wolf Among Us
On his Substack, Bill Willingham explains that the Fables license is now part of the public domain. The author had been engaged in a standoff with DC Comics for years over the rights to the series, particularly in relation to The Wolf Among Us. It seems that the publisher never consulted the creator in relation to the game from Telltale Games, and even that he did not receive any royalties in relation to the use of his license by the studio.
For the explanations, the author is clear: “ at one time the intellectual property of Fables was in good hands and then, with the law of attrition and employee changes, it fell into the wrong hands. » The man also returned to The Wolf Among Us by declaring that the editors “could modify the stories and characters as they wanted”. They had no obligation to protect the integrity and value of the intellectual property against themselves, or against third parties (Telltale Games for example) who wished to radically modify the work. Thus, the author announces that he prefers that the Fables also “fall into many good hands” if he could not prevent them from falling into bad ones.
Telltale Games the story always complicated
Telltale Games therefore continues to pile up quite complex stories. The studio first collapsed under debt in October 2018 and closed its doors permanently. However, the studio was relaunched in August 2019 by former employees who decided to take over the projects, notably that of The Wolf Among Us 2. Initially planned for this year, the game was pushed back to 2024 in order to avoid any crunch for developers. It is unclear to what extent this news will impact Telltale Game knowing that it is likely that the studio is not even aware of the disagreement between DC Comics and Bill Willingham. The publisher of the comics quickly took the floor to provide his right of response:
The Fables comics are published by DC and the stories, characters and all materials contained therein are the property of DC and are protected by the copyright laws of the United States and throughout the world, in accordance with applicable legislation. They are not in the public domain. DC reserves all rights and will take such action as it deems necessary or appropriate to protect its intellectual property rights.
The standoff seems well underway between the creator and DC. It remains to be seen whether this will have any impact on The Wolf Among Us 2. Telltale for its part has not reacted to the controversy which broke out a few days ago.