Gollum – WGB, Dwelling of AWESOME Opinions

Evidently Daedalic Leisure has made the unconventional resolution to stop growing video games, selecting to focus purely on publishing, licensing, advertising and marketing and gross sales. German web site  Video games Wirtschaft broke the story.

Daedalic have been round since 2007 and in that point they’ve put out some actually nice video games, however The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was undoubtedly not one in every of them. It earned itself the doubtful honour of being the worst-reviewed recreation of 2023, and nonetheless holds that title, and that in my very own assessment I described it as, “a pitiful wretch corrupted by the attract of the One Ring.”

The launch was so poor that Daedalic needed to apologise for the sport’s state. Phrase then acquired out that they had been already engaged on one other Lord of the Rings venture, and had secured a subsidy from the German Authorities to assist growth.

Whereas I can not say with certainty that Daedalic’s shift in focus is due to The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, the timing is suspect. Only recently, mum or dad firm Embracer said that it must “closely exploit” The Lord of the Rings license going ahead, and Daedalic’s foray into Tolkien’s iconic world could have pushed them to take it away from Daedalic.

There’s additionally Embracer’s personal restructuring to contemplate. The corporate is gigantic in dimension and has spent years shopping for every little thing it may attain, leading to a hefty debt that it must handle. Daedalic’s shift could also be a results of Embracer’s bigger shakeup.

The information additionally comes with a really actual value: 25 staff will lose their jobs because of Daedalic’s new course.

As dangerous as Gollum was, it’s nonetheless a disgrace to see Daedalic cease growing video games. They’ve crafted some wonderful point-and-click journey video games. Gollum gave the impression to be a case of a developer stepping outdoors of its consolation zone and struggling to adapt.