The Lord of the Rings: Gollum developer to close after disastrous launch
Publisher Daedalic Entertainment closes the Hamburg, Germany-based in-house studio that made Lord of the Rings: Gollum, and has completed development of a second project based on the Lord of the Rings intellectual property, the company confirmed to Polygon. Daedalic will instead focus entirely on his publishing business.
In a statement to Polygon, Daedalic said Gollum “didn’t live up to the expectations we had for the game,” but added that the publisher will continue to work on a new patch for the stealth adventure game, which was released in May. Daedalic said it plans to work with former employees to place them elsewhere in its “network”.
GamesWirtschaft first reported on the studio’s closure.
Lord of the Rings: Gollum was announced in 2019 and initially planned for 2021. Daedalic’s original pitch for Gollum’s stand-alone adventure promised a story “from a never-before-seen perspective, in any story medium, while staying true to JRR Tolkien’s legendary books.” Gollum was delayed several times and landed with a critical thud. In Polygon’s review of the game, we said it lacks the personality of Tolkien’s character and is simply “not fun” to play.
Daedalic’s other now-cancelled Lord of the Rings game was never formally announced or officially titled, instead being billed as an experience that would “take the player to a lush world filled with mythical creatures and magic”. Like it Gollum, the game promised to “tell a story from a character’s perspective that has never been told before”. The 3D action-adventure project was codenamed It’s magicaccording to The German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
Here is Daedalic’s full statement:
Daedalic Entertainment has made the decision to close its development division, with full focus now on our publishing business. Eight promising releases will be launched in this financial year alone.
Even Lord of the Rings: Gollum did not live up to the expectations we had for the game, we are very grateful for the opportunity and the learning experience it has brought us.
We are currently working on another patch for it Lord of the Rings: Gollum. A follow-up project in the Lord of the Rings universe that has already started will be discontinued. The Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, as the responsible body for federal funding, was informed about this some time ago.
We value every member of our team and make sure the transition goes as smoothly as possible. We will therefore support our former employees in finding new opportunities within our network.
A difficult breakthrough, but also a new beginning in the already long history of Daedalic Entertainment.