Oh Telltale, where art thou?

Telltale has been getting a lot of press lately by announcing and releasing classic adventure games based around licensed properties. Just in the last day there have been reports of games based on Jurassic Park, the comic Fables, and AMC hit show and graphic novel The Walking Dead. Are Telltale games really the smartest PC developer in existence?

It doesn't take a marketing or business genius to see what they are doing. License some mid to high level IP, churn out as many games with their existing technology as they can with an episodic model, then sell exclusively digitally on platforms like Steam and their own digital store to make an absolute killing with the only overhead going to writing and production. I suppose you can create a lot of content while recycling the same adventure game mechanics that really haven't changed at all in 24 years.

Their most recent release of Back to the Future episodic games has garnered them moderate critical success, but is it for the IP or the game itself? I have doubt this business model will be very successful, but is it really any better than Facebook and social games? At least there you can find thought and innovation, even if the gameplay is shallow and minimal.