Daedalic Entertainment is shutting down internal game development and shifting to publishing. Development of Gollum sequel cancelled

Draugoth

Gold Member
Daedalic Entertainment is shutting down internal game development and shifting to publishing. Development for their next Lord of the Rings game ( a Gollum sequel in dev since mid-2022) is halted.

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Gollum GIF
Angry The Lord Of The Rings GIF


I won't say "deserved" because loss of job is always sad, but stopping making games is really the best they can do right now.
 
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Still sad to see people lose their jobs and i feel for those affected but hopefully they take this experience into their future work and learn the importance of putting effort into your works & releasing quality products.
 
That sucks but it's so crazy that one game fucking killed them. Hopefully those who are losing their jobs find somewhere to go.

Why was a sequel being developed in the first place? 1 gollum game is too much for this timeline to handle
In Middle Earth they have second breakfast so why not second Gollum game?
 
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This actually sucks as Daedalic go way back on PC, and made some good games, good graphic adventures and point and clicks etc.

It also shows just how much studios are living on a knife edge these days where one bad game can kill a whole 17 year old studio.

It sucks really as another long time studio is gone, although Gollum really is one of the worst games in recent years, so it is what it is.
 
Oh NO! Gollum was myGOTY.. was looking forward to the sequel... imaginary pre-order canceled.


Gollum GIF
Angry The Lord Of The Rings GIF


I won't say "deserved" because loss of job is always sad, but stopping making games is really the best they can do right now.
Never got his sentiment...

Some jobs deserve to be lost... paying anyone actual money to do actual work is not a charity. If I pay someone to clean my place and they do a piss poor job of it, should I keep paying them because I don't want them to be jobless?

This game was so bad... that if I were ever hiring devs to work on a game and I see this game on their CV... it would disqualify them.
 
Daedalic Entertainment is shutting down internal game development and shifting to publishing. Development for their next Lord of the Rings game ( a Gollum sequel in dev since mid-2022) is halted.

Fz4kM2AaIAAJpo4


Imagine doing OK playing to your strengths and releasing a quality adventure games, then deciding to bet your studio's future on something you have no expertise in and failing.
 
It also shows just how much studios are living on a knife edge these days where one bad game can kill a whole 17 year old studio.
It is most likely a game that had a budget multiple times that of their regular offerings and instantly erased all the slim profits they had. See my post above.
 
It is most likely a game that had a budget multiple times that of their regular offerings and instantly erased all the slim profits they had. See my post above.
Oh i have no doubt they probably went all in on this, but we have seen this before with one bad game shutting down smaller studios, sometimes even when that game has sold 'ok'.
 
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Never got his sentiment...

Some jobs deserve to be lost... paying anyone actual money to do actual work is not a charity. If I pay someone to clean my place and they do a piss poor job of it, should I keep paying them because I don't want them to be jobless?

This game was so bad... that if I were ever hiring devs to work on a game and I see this game on their CV... it would disqualify them.

Brain-dead take. Bad games tend to be the product of management failure, and guess who gets to keep their jobs in situations like this?
 
Brain-dead take. Bad games tend to be the product of management failure, and guess who gets to keep their jobs in situations like this?
Nonsense...

Its easy to always blame upper management.

Its unfortunate that said upper-management gets to keep their jobs.. as far as I am concerned... when I see a game that is this bad across the entire board. It was not even like it was good in a single area. Not music, not performance, not animation, not graphics... NOTHING.

Nope... I am axing that entire team.

Even the janitor gets the ax too. Just by association.
 
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This îs so sad...I loved their Deponia games,they were great at point and click games,they needed to stick to what they did best but i can see how they must've thought a LOTR game would elevate their status...too bad they picked Gollum as a main character for their game and delivered it in such poor state...
 
The videogame industry is a cruel one, but honestly their latest game was overwhelmingly, outrageously bad and should never have made it past its concept phase.

There is no way they didn't realize this themselves. Maybe one day we find out what happened with this game.
 
they should have made a 2d point and click gollum adventure.
hopefully they'll keep publishing such games
 
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hold on hold on hold on hold on hold on...

wait a minute...

you mean to tell me...

that they've been working on a SEQUEL to gollum for the past year??

LMAOOOOOOOO my sides are in the firmament
 
The studio bit off more than it could chew with Gollum, and it's really unfortunate. A lot of people really enjoyed their point and click adventures.
 
Why was a sequel being developed in the first place? 1 gollum game is too much for this timeline to handle

It wasn't a Gollum sequel, it was a second game set in the LotR universe featuring a different character.

 
There is no money to be made in point and click adventure games anymore, the niche is far too small.

Unfortunate for them that their last effort went into a dud.
 
Going by this post on reee, Gollum was more like a desperation move that become a final killing blow for the studio, which was on a sharp downward spiral for years prior
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Crazy they had the strategic view to not only release a crappy game based on Gollum, but also a sequel in the works too.

I guess some people at Daedalic sure like Gollum.
 
Oh NO! Gollum was myGOTY.. was looking forward to the sequel... imaginary pre-order canceled.



Never got his sentiment...

Some jobs deserve to be lost... paying anyone actual money to do actual work is not a charity. If I pay someone to clean my place and they do a piss poor job of it, should I keep paying them because I don't want them to be jobless?

This game was so bad... that if I were ever hiring devs to work on a game and I see this game on their CV... it would disqualify them.
They made plenty of good games before, one bad game is enough to close down everything?

In the end, this was more of a mismanagement problem, but as always, those who don't call the shots are the first to be cut.
 
Transition from 2d to 3d still taking down game studios. I didn't think their adventure games were that well-designed, but point and click adventure game fans can be very forgiving if their nostalgia buttons are pushed correctly.
 
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