Lionsgate makes significant investment in Telltale Games

The lines of movies and games are being further blurred by Lionsgate’s announcement this morning that they have made a significant investment in Telltale Games.

Other than the infusion of cash, and  Lionsgate’s CEO joining the Telltale Board of Directors, the collaboration is expected to “continue the extension of Lionsgate’s film and television brands into the game space”. In other words, we may eventually end up with Telltale Game Series featuring Mad Men, Orange is the new Black, The Hunger Games or Divergent, among original ideas.

Read on for the details.

As part of the continued diversification of its content business and recent entry into the game space, Lionsgate, a premier next generation global content leader, has made a significant investment in leading game developer and publisher Telltale Games, the two companies announced today. As part of its investment, Lionsgate Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer will also join the Telltale Board of Directors.

The investment will continue the extension of Lionsgate’s film and television brands into the game space and will bring Lionsgate’s expertise in creating and marketing premium content to Telltale’s unique narrative-driven, storytelling approach to gaming.  The collaboration will also enable the two companies to explore opportunities to co-develop existing and original IP into episodic games and television.

Telltale has emerged as an industry leader in narrative-driven episodic games with the blockbuster hit The Walking Dead, which has sold 8.5 million copies and topped sales charts on Xbox Live, PlayStation Network and Steam, as well as the hit Game of Thrones, based on the smash television series, The Wolf Among Us, the episodic interactive graphic adventure video game based on Bill Willingham’s Fables comic book, and Tales from the Borderlands, Telltale’s adaptation of the acclaimed PC, Mac and console video game title from Gearbox Software and 2K Games.

“Telltale is one of the premier storytellers in the gaming world today,” said Lionsgate Chief Executive Officer Jon Feltheimer. “Their leadership in narrative-driven episodic games, together with our investment and the potential opportunities created by our premium content expertise, will continue to strengthen their ability to offer exciting new avenues of storytelling to their next generation audiences across a broad range of platforms.”

“Lionsgate is one of the most innovative, entrepreneurial and impressive content companies in the world today.  I’m delighted to welcome an experienced executive like Jon, a leader who shares our unique vision, to our Board,” said Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner. “Lionsgate has a great track record in developing and marketing feature films as well as platform-defining premium scripted television. This partnership will accelerate Telltale’s ability to create not only original games, but episodic television series based on our game properties ? an area at the cutting edge of industry growth.”

“Our partnership with Kevin Bruner and his team at Telltale continues to accelerate our momentum in the game space,” said Lionsgate President of Interactive Ventures & Games Peter Levin.  “The convergence between premium filmed entertainment brands and original game properties is a natural direction in which to continue diversifying our content business, and Telltale is the perfect partner with whom to explore this dynamic area of growth.”