Daedalic Entertainment began to be a questionable studio when a new report surfaced that made numerous allegations of how toxic the entire workplace is and that the company did not compensate its employees fairly, forcing them to render overtime without pay. Daedalic is also allegedly paying its employees below the minimum wage. There are so many allegations that it’s becoming more evident why The Lord of the Rings: Gollum became a huge commercial failure.
Following the report from IGN, a German publication called Game Two uploaded a video on YouTube titled “Why Gollum Had to Fall.” The 40-minute documentary discusses the allegations by its former and current employees, especially from those who worked on the game. It was also revealed that the budget for Gollum was around 15 million euros, which translates to USD $15.9 million only for a game considered to be AAA.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was a commercial and critical failure that led Daedalic Entertainment to face a ton of backlash from the gaming community, unforgivingly criticizing its poor overall quality, thus forcing them to stop making games in June 2023.
Another incident surfaced that Nacon allegedly used an AI tool to compose its apology letter for Gollum’s huge failure that was published in May 2023. According to Game Two from IGN’s report, Daedalic was not aware of the apology letter that was uploaded publicly by its publisher.
It’s sad to see the state of Daedalic Entertainment today as they’ve produced and shipped decent games in the past such as Edna & Harvey: The Breakout and Silence.