Lionsgate film studio makes 'significant investment' in Walking Dead developers Telltale Games

Lionsgate Entertainment has made a "significant investment" in video game development and publishing studio Telltale Games, according to CNBC.

Announced jointly by the two companies, the investment forms part of Lionsgate's efforts to expand its film and television wings into the video game industry. The film studio will be sharing its expertise with Telltale as part of the deal, as well as opening up opportunities for game adaptations of Lionsgate properties.

Among Lionsgate's most recent Hollywood successes are Twilight, The Hunger Games (its biggest success), Saw, and The Expendables.

Telltale Games' success story started with their series based on comic-turned-television series The Walking Dead, which they mapped onto their unique narrative and decision-lead game mechanics.

The Walking Dead's first season was a huge success in 2013 and was followed up last year with a second season. Games based on Game of Thrones, 2K's Borderlands games, and comic series Fables followed.

A series based on Minecraft is also in the pipeline.

"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."