Telltale bosses insisted “people did not associate humour” with Guardians of the Galaxy

The first two episodes of Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode, a story-driven adaptation of a game wildly popular among kids and families, were originally written with a teen rating in mind. Former narrative designer Emily Grace Buck says this is just one example of how Telltale’s executive team had “fundamental misunderstanding of who our audience was.” Speaking at the Sweden Game Conference, Buck says that Minecraft isn’t the only example of studio bosses pushing for grittier storytelling. “Our executive team insisted that what was popular about Guardians of the Galaxy was darkness and violence and sadness. And that people did not associate humour with that brand.” That led to Telltale’s Guardians getting rewritten to be more serious and less funny. In her comments at the conference (captured by GamesIndustry.biz), Buck says “One of the biggest comments in editorial was that it felt very off-tone for Guardians of the Galaxy and wasn't very funny. And we were like 'we know.'” Buck says not every member of the executive team was so ill-equipped to see what fans wanted, but it could be an “uphill battle” to get them to listen. “If you fought it too hard, you would be taken off a project, replaced, or even let go, and that happened to people on a number of occasions.”