Daedalic closes game development after Gollum flop

Daedalic Entertainment, previously a developer of point-and-click journey video games and most lately The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, is shutting down inner game development at its Hamburg-based studio and apparently shedding 25 of its workers. Instead, it’s reportedly pivoting to pure publishing, with eight video games on its slate for the subsequent fiscal 12 months. It’s additionally canceled development on one other Lord of the Rings game.

According to a report by GamesWirtschaf (translated from German), Daedalic has reached a “difficult turning point” following the essential disappointment of Gollum. Now it’s restructuring to start a brand new chapter within the firm’s historical past, which incorporates shuttering its inner development. The firm mentioned in a press release that it’s going to “support our former employees in finding new opportunities within our network.”

Daedalic apologized final month for the state of Gollum upon launch, promising to maintain engaged on patches for the title, and has reaffirmed that intention in its present assertion. The firm continues to publish video games, with its most up-to-date titles together with Unrailed and Inkulinati. French writer Nacon acquired Daedalic in 2022.

The firm was additionally engaged on one other Lord of the Rings title, for which it was to obtain subsidies from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. A brand new game in Daedalic’s Deponia collection, referred to as Surviving Deponia, is within the works however is being helmed by one other studio referred to as Atomic Torch and gained’t be affected by the restructuring.

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