The Lord Of The Rings: Gollum studio shut down, sequel plans abandoned

Fair to say, I think many of us assumed that Redfall would be the year’s biggest release disaster after we all saw the state of it. Little did we know that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was lurking around the corner, waiting to snatch the title like the titular creature snatching away the One Ring.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum’s premise has always raised eyebrows. A stealth-based action-adventure isn’t exactly what springs to mind if you ask LOTR fans what kind of game they’d like to see made. Private Division’s upcoming Middle-earth set open-world game is more likely to be along the lines of their answers. On top of that, Gollum was delayed several times, signalling development issues - and in the weeks before release, marketing was next to none. ‘What exactly are the devs hiding?’ is a thought you might’ve had. Review scores soon revealed the abysmal state of the game, so it may not surprise you that plans for a sequel have been totally abandoned. Worse yet, the studio who created the game will now shut down.

Take a look at Lord of the Rings: Gollum in action below.

As reported by Polygon, publisher Daedalic Entertainment will no longer utilise its internal development division, instead focusing exclusively on publishing. They also confirmed that they’ve ended development on another project based on a Lord of the Rings intellectual property. Some assume that this may have been a sequel, but it also stands to reason that it could’ve been another completely separate entity. Daedelic did not provide further clarification.

In a statement given to Polygon, Daedelic wrote that Gollum “did not live up to the expectations we had for the game”. A patch is in the works for the title though and will eventually be released.

As shocking as Gollum’s quality was, it’s a huge shame to see a gaming studio shut down - a decision that affects many hardworking individuals. Daedalic Entertainment did confirm though that they will try to place employees elsewhere in the company network.