Gollum Developers Claim Working Environment at Daedalic Was Toxic

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum was such a disaster that many outlets call it the worst game of 2023. It was criticized for everything you can think of, including outdated graphics, a lackluster user interface, and a variety of technical issues, among other problems.

Its developer Daedalic Entertainment quickly realized that players weren't happy with the game and issued an apology letter the day after its release. However, it seems that the message was generated by ChatGPT, which doesn't add sincerity to it. Then again, Daedalic closed soon after the horrid release, so its moral qualms hardly matter now.

What does matter is the atmosphere there. A new report from Game Two sees Daedalic developers revealing the horrors they experienced while working at the studio. They claim the environment there was toxic and downright hostile, there was an "atmosphere of fear," mostly thanks to the CEO Carsten Fichtelmann.

As you might expect, the crunch was there at the company and was considered a norm by the leadership. Moreover, an email allegedly from COO Stephan Harms stated that Daedalic would no longer pay for overtime as it is "a completely normal and common parameter in our industry." The company denied the overtime accusations when asked. 

Another concerning point the report raises is Daedalic's relationships with junior specialists and interns. It is said the studio used them as cheaper labor that was willing to do more and couldn't assess "the level of stress as critical or unusual." The company, however, claimed there were no interns working there.

While developers at Daedalic were happy to work on an AAA title in a famous universe, the leaders failed to provide a sufficient budget and enough employees to make Gollum what it could have been. It only had €15 million, which is very little for such ambition. As a result, the game flopped hard and cost the team not only its reputation but a place in the industry, at least when it comes to in-house development.

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