LOTR Gollum dev continues trend of apologizing for broken game releases

LOTR Gollum dev Daedalic Entertainment is the latest studio to issue an apology following the release of a broken game.

Publisher Nacon and developer Daedalic announced the Gollum-starring title in early 2019, at the time promising an interactive LOTR adventure like no other.

A prolonged development cycle kept the project out of public hands for longer than intended. Yet, its release earlier this week suggests that even another months-long delay wouldn’t have prepared the stealth title for primetime.

LOTR Gollum launched to dismal review scores, with many critics calling it the worst game they’ve reviewed in years. Performance issues, subpar visuals, glitches, and poor mechanics represent only some of its myriad troubles.

Like several other high-profile games this year, an apology post from developers means to address the public backlash.

LOTR Gollum dev issues apology for “underwhelming experience”

On May 26, just one day after launch, Daedalic Entertainment shared a “Dear players” post on Twitter to address Gollum’s glaring shortcomings.

In the text-laden jpeg, the studio apologizes for delivering an “underwhelming experience.” The post continues in part, “We acknowledge and deeply regret that the game did not meet the expectations we set for ourselves or for our dedicated community.”

Daedalic goes on to promise that developers are hard at work on tackling LOTR Gollum’s many glitches and technical issues. “We are committed to providing you with patches that allow you to enjoy the game to its fullest potential.”

Ignoring the “Lord of the Ring: Gollum” typo in the first sentence, it’s a well-written message. However, a quick look through the apology thread and Twitter, in general, shows the public is over it.

Game enthusiasts have especially called out the continued trend of developers launching broken games, then issuing an apology once the backlash rolls in. This year alone, it’s happened with TLoU on PC, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Redfall, and Forspoken.

Some folks have even created a patchwork of such messages in tweets.

Hopefully, the trend of broken game launches followed by the obligatory apology tweet won’t persist for much longer.