It’s a there-and-back-again kind of tale, with the developer of Lord of the Rings: Gollum – Daedalic Entertainment – revealing that it’s casting the development side of the company into the fiery chasm from whence it came.
Is that enough references?
Following the nothing-short-of-disastrous launch of LOTR: Gollum, Daedalic was forced to issue a public apology, but insisted it was still planning to develop further Lord of the Rings games – it even picked up a subsidy from the German Ministry of Economics to do so. It’s safe to say that that won’t be the case going forward.
Not So Precious After All
It’s sad news for Daedalic, as the German publication ‘Games Wirtschaft’ reveals that twenty-five employees at the studio will be laid off as the firm prepares to eradicate its development departments.
Instead of making games, Daedalic will now focus on publishing, licensing, marketing, and sales – it will no longer make games in-house, which effectively means that the Lord of the Rings projects that were ongoing have now been effectively canned.
This news comes as no surprise – LOTR: Gollum was basically the worst game released this decade so far, riddled with bugs and glitches and ultimately falling flat in almost every aspect imaginable. This wasn’t a first outing for Daedalic – which has been developing games since 2007 – but it was by far the worst-received one.
It warranted a public apology from Daedalic, as honestly, there were no redeeming features whatsoever about the game.
Did you play LOTR: Gollum? Do you personally believe it deserved all the bad press?
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