Summary
One of the year’s worst-received video games,The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, now appears to be an even more controversial title. A new report has made a number of disturbing allegations against the people in charge of the game’s development at Daedalic Entertainment. The report is the latest in a long line of controversies surrounding the development and release ofThe Lord of the Rings: Gollum.
The game was originally announced in March 2019 and was delayed several times before being released in May 2023. Upon its release,The Lord of the Rings: Gollumwas one of the worst-reviewed gamesof the year and failed to meet the publisher’s sales expectations. As it turned out, a big reason for the game’s shortcomings may have had to do with behind-the-scenes issues and disturbing behavior on the part of those in charge.
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In a recent video, the German publication Game Two spoke to over 32 people who worked on the game and broke down what went wrong behind the scenes. This included but was not limited to enforcing uncompensated overtime, attempts to pay the staff below minimum wage and what has been described as an overall toxic work environment made possible by bad leadership. Furthermore, the game apparently cost just under $16M to make, and at least one developer described the environment as having “an atmosphere of fear.” This report was also the same one that revealed thatThe Lord of the Rings: Gollum’s apology was written using ChatGPTwithout the development team’s knowledge or consent.
In addition, sources at other publications like IGN further corroborated these stories, stating that the toxic practices used by Daedalic were an open secret in the German gaming industry. A denial from the publisher was included in Game Two’s video but the fallout from the game’s performance and alleged mismanagement can already be seen. It was originally revealed in May 2023 thatGollum’s developer was working on anotherLord of the Ringsgame. Development on that untitled game has been paused, likely as a result ofGollum’s poor reception.
Furthermore, it was revealed in June 2023 thatDaedalic Entertainment was done making gamesafter laying off several members of its staff. While the studio did not fully close, it will be shifting to publishing as opposed to in-house development. How these allegations will affect the company going forward remains to be seen.
