Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Is Telltale's Next, Just in Time for the Movie
A document released as part of the voice actors strike points to the Telltale Marvel game.
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Update: Tonight at the Game Awards 2016, Telltale confirmed that Marvel's Guardian of the Galaxy will be the next Telltale series. The announcement trailer is below.
"The energizing blend of humor, emotion, teamwork, and full-on sci-fi action-adventure of the Guardians provides an enormously satisfying space to explore through Telltale's unique style of interactive storytelling," said Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner in a press release.
"In Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series, players will take on multiple roles within the ragtag band of heroes, and take the pilot's seat in directing their escapades around the universe. We are always honored to be working with the best creative partners and storytellers in entertainment, and working with Marvel on this series leaves us excited to share what we've been developing when it premieres in 2017."
Way back in 2015, Telltale Games teased an upcoming project in collaboration with Marvel, with a 2017 release window. I mused about potential characters they could use for the series, but since then, we've heard nothing about the title. Interestingly enough, in the intervening months, Telltale has announced and released half of its episodic series starring DC Comics' Batman.
Today, we have some indication as to what game Telltale is crafting with Marvel. As part of the ongoing Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) video game voice actors strike, the union has released a document for games that it is not striking against. On that list are two games from O'Farrell Enterprises, the production company of Darragh O'Farrell, voice over producer of many Telltale titles.
The first game is The Walking Dead: Season 3. The second was listed as Guardians of the Galaxy: The Video Game (aka Blue Harvest), but has since been renamed to Untitled Marvel Game aka Blue Harvest. It's worth noting that Blue Harvest was also the fake working title of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
This timing makes sense for a few reasons. The first is that Telltale Games will likely show off a trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy at The Game Awards taking place on December 1, 2016. Telltale announced Batman: The Telltale Series at the 2015 event. The second is that Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 is planned for a May 5, 2017 release in theatres. Telltale's title could either launch in the months leading up to the movie, or launch concurrently and ride the post-film hype wave.
I'm sad that Telltale didn't try one of the more interesting Marvel properties, but Batman: The Telltale Series shows a developer that's more comfortable with expansive action sequences. That's something they'll need to lean hard on for the hot space action of Guardians of the Galaxy.