Daedalic Entertainment, the studio behind The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, has issued a statement apologising for the game’s launch issues and pledging to release patches and make significant improvements.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum launched yesterday to a simply staggeringly negative reaction, the game receiving the lowest metacritic aggregate ratings of the year as it was widely panned for both mediocre game design and heavily criticised for game-breaking bugs that in the case of a number of reviewers (ourselves included), made the game impossible or near impossible to complete.
The company’s Twitter image apology reads:
Dear Players,
We would like to sincerely apologize for the underwhelming experience many of you have had with The Lord of Ring: Gollum upon its release. We acknowledge and deeply regret that the game did not meet the expectations we set for ourselves or for our dedicated community. Please accept our sincere apologies for any disappointment this may have caused.
Our goal as a studio, and as passionate The Lord of the Rings fans, has always been to tell a compelling and immersive story-driven adventure. Crafting a story with Middle-earth as our playground has been the greatest honor – and the biggest challenge we have faced so far.
At Daedalic, we understand that a game’s success relies on the enjoyment and satisfaction of its players. We genuinely value your feedback and have been actively listening to your voices, reading your comments, and analyzing the constructive criticism and suggestions you have provided.
Our development team has been working diligently to address the bugs and technical issues many of you experienced. We are committed to providing you with patches that will allow you to enjoy the game to its fullest potential.
Once again, we deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused, and we appreciate your understanding during this time. We will continue to keep you updated on our progress and provide transparent communication regarding the upcoming patches and improvements. Your passion and dedication as players have been the driving force behind our determination to make things right.
Thank you for your support,
In a separate statement to Eurogamer, they promised updates and patches to address issues, the first update coming as soon as tomorrow.
To say that Gollum’s release has been a disappointment is an understatement. The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was announced in 2019, expected to be an early release during the then next-generation console era. In mid-2020, it was handed a 2021 launch window, but that slipped to 2022, then September 2022, before being delayed for “a few months” to what ended up being May 2023. Needless to say it absolutely needed to be delayed further, even if purely to resolve the technical issues that have plagued it through the review process and with the day one patch installed.
In our Gollum review, Gamoc faced plenty of crash bugs on PS5 – one particular issue was to do with hair physics – but worse and ultimately most damning of all were the game-breaking progression bugs that, ultimately, prevented him from progressing past the halfway point in the game.
I do feel for the developers who have worked on the game for the past several years, only to have to release the game in the state it’s currently in, and to have to show up for work with this hanging over you. I’ve no doubt that the story of its release will emerge in time, but I hope that as a team they can make significant enough improvements so that, even if the game design has weaknesses and flaws of its own, they can restore a little pride to their work.
