Hunger Games Film Company Makes Major Investment In Telltale

Lionsgate, the film company behind the blockbuster Hunger Games franchise, has made a major investment in The Walking Dead developer Telltale Games. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Lionsgate said the investment was "significant."

As part of the deal, Lionsgate chief executive Jon Feltheimer will join Telltale's board of directors.

The Lionsgate-Telltale collaboration 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," both companies said in a statement.

The partnership also means the two can now explore opportunities to co-develop existing and original IP into episodic games and TV, Lionsgate said. No specific projects were announced, however.

"This partnership will accelerate Telltale's ability to create not only original games, but episodic television series based on our game properties," Telltale chief executive Kevin Bruner said. "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," Lionsgate president of interactive ventures Peter Levin added.

"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."

The announcement of the Telltale-Lionsgate partnership comes just a week after Bruner said in an interview with Digital Trends that games pale in comparison to other forms of media as it relates to mainstream recognition. A game like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, based in the well-known Lord of the Rings universe, achieves only a fraction of the recognition that movies and TV shows get, he said.

"One out of 10 people know what you're talking about," Bruner said about Shadow of Mordor. “So the games industry is huge and video games are huge, but storytelling at large--television, films, novels--is way bigger than games."

Telltale has a number of in-development projects. These include future installments in the company's Game of Thrones and Tales from the Borderlands franchise, as well as a third season of The Walking Dead. What's more, Telltale is working on a Minecraft game, and even has plans for its own original IP.