The Lord of the Rings: Gollum studio Daedalic is shuttering internal development

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 publisher will now fully focus its efforts on its publishing business.

First reported by Games Wirtschaft, Daedalic confirms to Polygon 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 OpenCritic, with only 4% of critics recommending it. As Will Cruz writes for our sister site, The Escapist: “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 2023 release date, so maybe that can rattle the dust off the series a bit.

Eric Van Allen

Senior News Reporter – While Eric’s been writing about games since 2014, he’s been playing them for a lot longer. Usually found grinding RPG battles, digging into an indie gem, or hanging out around the Limsa Aethryte.

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