After the underwhelming critical and commercial response to The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, it has been revealed that Daedalic Entertainment will focus on publishing instead of developing games.

The company will focus on licensing, marketing, and distribution of its current range of IPs that includes Unrailed, Barotrauma, Inkulinati, Witch It, and Shadow Tactics. The developer-turned-publisher says that it has “eight promising releases” just for this current financial year.

Daedalic Entertainment says:

We value every single member of our team very much, and it is important to us that the transition goes as well as possible. Therefore, we will support our former employees in their search for new opportunities within our network.

Due to this restructuring, the other The Lord of the Rings game that was in development at the studio will be discontinued. Even after the feeble response to The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, Daedalic Entertainment says that the studio is “very grateful for the time and the instructive experience” they received.

Earlier this month, Embracer Group AB also announced a “restructuring program” which included cancellation of multiple games. Crystal Dynamics, developer of Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider, however was not affected by this program.

Speaking of LOTR: Gollum, go read our review here, where our reviewer states, “It has some cool ideas and attempts to execute them, but they never once felt realized throughout the journey. Couple the somewhat uninteresting story and the frustrating, clunky gameplay to accompany the rest of the game; there’s little for me to recommend here, even to die-hard Lord of the Rings fans.”

Source: GamesWirtschaft