After the massively negative reception of Lord of the Rings: Gollum, its creator Daedalic Entertainment has decided to shut down their development division. The Hamburg-based entertainment studio has decided to focus on publishing video games.
Daedalic Entertainment to focus their efforts on publishing
The leadership of Daedalic Entertainment has announced that they will be focusing their efforts on licensing, sales, and marketing of various third-party video games. They have also stated that they will offer support for their existing developed games, such as Lord of the Rings: Gollum, only for the current financial year. Furthermore, their publishing wing also has eight promising titles set to launch this year, which will be releasing as planned.
After these, no games will be developed on-site in Hamburg-based studio. The developer has stated that this has been a difficult turning point for the organisation, however, it’s the one that ensures ‘a new beginning in the long history of Daedalic Entertainment.’
Daedalic Entertainment scraps upcoming LOTR project
Daedalic Entertainment was working on another Lord of the Rings title since 2022. The developer is also stopping their work on this unannounced LOTR title. The German Ministry of Economics had granted a subsidy north of €2 million for this project scheduled for release in late 2024. According to the developer, the Ministry has been notified of this decision.
Daedalic Entertainment’s decision of stopping video game development is said to affect over 25 of their current employees out of their 90+ strength. According to their official statement,
“We value each and every member of our team and it is important to us that the transition goes as smoothly as possible. Therefore, we will support our former employees in finding new opportunities within our network.”
Fans react to Daedalic shutting its development division
It’s no surprise that LOTR: Gollum’s failure has a large part to play behind this decision. Netizens have also cited this failure as the main reason for this once popular studio’s demise.
The Curse of Gollum
— Deft Beck (@DeftBeck) June 30, 2023
Gollum comes for us all
— cubeenigma (@cubeenigma) June 30, 2023
Some are not too sad bidding farewell to Daedalic Entertainment’s development department, apparently too traumatized by the Gollum game.
— Forza Gamezheros (@XgamingpassX34) June 30, 2023
Source: Games Wirtschaft
