Daedalic Entertainment, the German developer behind The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, is undergoing many changes following the poor reception to the game earlier this year.
The studio has canceled a new Lord of the Rings game that was in development, and in fact, Daedalic will no longer make games at all. Going forward, Daedalic will be a publisher only. The company said it has eight “promising” releases set for release this financial year.
“Even though The 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 brought us,” the studio said in a statement.
As for the new Lord of the Rings game that is being canceled, Daedalic said only that this “follow-up” will be “discontinued.” It’s unknown if this was a sequel to Gollum or a game focusing on a different element of Middle-earth. Before this, Daedalic management said it was hoping to explore a different part of the fantasy universe if it made another LOTR game.
Daedalic received some funding from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, and Daedalic confirmed its plans to the government “some time ago.”
As a result of these developments, Daedalic is cutting an unspecified number of positions. The studio said it will support departing developers with assistance in finding new work “within our network.” Daedalic is owned by French company Nacon.
“A difficult break, but also a new beginning in the already long history of Daedalic Entertainment,” the company said. Daedalic was founded in 2007 and is known for point-and-click titles like the Deponia series.
While Daedalic is no longer making new games, the studio has at least one further patch in development for Gollum to help get the game in a better state.
While Daedalic’s next LOTR game has been canceled, there are a handful of upcoming titles in the works, including an untitled game from Weta, LOTR: Return to Moria, and a LOTR MMO from Amazon.
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