A second Lord of the Rings project has also been canceled
Daedalic Entertainment is closing its Hamburg, Germany studio and shifting focus, following the reception to The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. The publishไer will now fully focus its efforts on its publishing business.
First reported by , Daedalic confirms to as well that it’s shifting focus. Daedalic is closing its internal Hamburg studio, which developed Gollum, and canceled a second project based on The Lord of the Rings IP.
Games Wirtschaft’s report indicates 25 employees will be affected. In a statement to Polygon, Daedalic says it will support those former employees in “finding new opportunities” within its network. Additionally, Daedalic says it will continue to work on a patch for Gollum, which was released in May. The publisher confirms that the stealth-action game “did not live up to the expectations” it had for Gollum.
My precious
There’s no hiding that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was a massive flop. It sits at a rare 37 on , with only 4% of critics recommending it. As Will Cruz writes for our sister site, : “The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is quite possibly the worst game I’ve played in 2023 so far.”
Having played a demo of it a while back and walking away baffled, I’m not terribly surprised. Regardless of Gollum‘s quality, though, seeing developers fall on hard times is never a good thing. Hopefully, those affected can find a new path forward in the industry.
As for Lord of the Rings video games, well, this seems to have salted the earth on Gollum. It feels like it’s been a bit since we saw the last great LOTR game. Return to Moria is currently set for a fall 2𒁏023 release date, so maybe that can rattle the d📖ust off the series a bit.
Published: Jun 30, 2023 03:15 pm