Telltale Games Secures $0.6 Million In Funding

Representatives from Bay Area-based game developer Telltale Games have announced that the company has closed $0.6 million in private financing. The company intends to use these funds, which were obtained with the assistance of financial advisory firm Avance, to fund a series of games based on Jeff Smith's cult comic book series Bone, as well as another titles based on an as yet unannounced license. The funding is the first round for the company, and attracted accredited investors from across the U.S. As a result of the investment, the company has also been able to attract additional staff to its San Rafael, California headquarters. These include designer Greg Land, who worked on Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter and Republic Commando; programmer Karen Petersen, who is credited on titles including Escape from Monkey Island, Gladius and Knights of the Old Republic II; Brian Gillies, who was the lead artist on Evil Genius from the recently closed Elixir Studios; artist Lea Mai Nguyen, who worked on RTX Red Rock, Escape from Monkey Island and Jedi Knight II; and finally, accounts and finance officer Aaron Foltz. These newest recruits follow the company’s previous penchant for employing ex-LucasArts staff, since the original founders of the company (Dan Connors, Kevin Bruner, and Troy Molander) are all former LucasArts employees, and were key members of the team developing the recent, unfortunately cancelled Sam & Max: Freelance Police game before founding Telltale. CEO Dan Connors describes this new funding as an endorsement of the company’s visions, saying: "The investment community is saying Telltale is a unique company with a clearly differentiated proposition, ideally positioned in the fastest growing segment of the video game industry".