LogInAllegedly, Daedalic had no prior knowledge of the apology or its contents before it was published.
Image Credit: Daedalic, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
If you know a thing or two about the state of AAA game development in 2023, then such a phenomenon as an "apology letter from the developers" is most likely something you've come across. In recent years, numerous game development companies have issued such letters to address their games' initial release issues and pledge comprehensive improvements in the future, with the community usually taking these promises with a rather sizeable pinch of salt.
One such studio is the recently disbanded Daedalic Entertainment, which issued an apology letter only a day after the release of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, an action-adventure game inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien's renowned LotR universe. In the letter, the team apologized for providing an "underwhelming experience" and promised to release multiple patches and enhancements further down the line to fix the game's issues and bugs. The disappointed fans, however, weren't satisfied by the company's response, perceiving the letter as just one more run-of-the-mill "nonpology" from a AAA studio.
At launch, for those who might not be aware, Gollum was criticized by virtually everyone for its numerous deficiencies, such as outdated graphics, a subpar user interface, an array of technical issues, and more. Upon release, the game boasted a Metacritic score of 36 and a User Score of 1.4, with Gollum's Steam reviews being "Mostly Negative".
As it turned out, there was actually a reason why Daedalic's "non-apology" seemed so insincere and soulless. As noticed by VGC, in a recent interview with the German gaming outlet GameTwo, two former Daedalic Entertainment employees revealed that the apology letter was actually generated using OpenAI's AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT.
Moreover, these ex-developers also claimed that the development studio had no prior knowledge of the apology letter or its contents before it was officially released, noting that the entire process was managed by the game's publisher Nacon, which acquired Daedalic in early 2022.
Additionally, it came to light that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum had a development budget of approximately 15 million euros, a rather small amount for what was supposed to be a AAA title. You can watch the full interview attached above or by clicking this link.
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