A secondLord of the Ringsproject has also been canceled
Daedalic Entertainment is closing its Hamburg, Germany studio and shifting focus, following the reception toThe Lord of the Rings: Gollum. The publisher will now fully focus its efforts on its publishing business.
First reported byGames Wirtschaft, Daedalic confirms toPolygonas well that it’s shifting focus. Daedalic is closing its internal Hamburg studio, which developedGollum, and canceled a second project based onThe Lord of the RingsIP.
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 forGollum, which was released in May. The publisher confirms that the stealth-action game “did not live up to the expectations” it had forGollum.
My precious
There’s no hiding thatThe Lord of the Rings: Gollumwas a massive flop. It sits at a rare 37 onOpenCritic, with only 4% of critics recommending it. As Will Cruz writes for our sister site,The Escapist: “The Lord of the Rings: Gollumis 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 ofGollum‘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 forLord of the Ringsvideo games, well, this seems to have salted the earth on Gollum. It feels like it’s been a bit since we saw the last greatLOTRgame.Return to Moriais currently set for a fall 2023 release date, so maybe that can rattle the dust off the series a bit.
