After apologizing for the dismal state of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, developer Daedalic Entertainment is now shuttering its development arm to instead focus on publishing games since Gollum didn’t meet expectations.
Read More: Lord Of The Rings: Gollum Studio Apologizes For ‘Underwhelming Experience’
According to a report by German news magazine GamesWirtschaft, Daedalic Enterinmanet said 25 of its over 90-person team have been affected, saying it was a “difficult decision” but one that’ll mark “a new beginning” for Daedalic.
“We deeply appreciate every member of our team, and it is important to us, that this transition goes as smoothly as possible,” Daedalic said. “Thus, we will be supporting our ex-employees in their search of new opportunities within our network.”
As a result of this change in strategy, Daedalic Entetainment’s in-development projects, including the other 3D action-adventure game set within The Lord of the Rings universe codenamed “It’s Magic,” have been halted. Surviving Deponia, the single-player colony simulator announced on June 10, will continue as planned with AtomicTorch serving as the primary developer now.
Kotaku reached out to Daedalic Entertainment for comment.
Read More: Dang, This Rough Lord Of The Rings: Gollum UI Though
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum launched on May 25 to much derision from critics and players alike. Despite reportedly pulling in $400,000 in sales and reaching the number six spot on the U.K. sales chart in its first week, GamesWirtschaft purports it still didn’t meet expectations. That makes sense considering just how bad it was. Folks dragged it online for everything from Gollum’s character model to the typeface used. It flopped so hard the studio tweeted an apology on May 26, promising to fix the bugs and technical issues to make it an enjoyable experience, though the studio has been silent since. However, according to GamesWirtschaft, a patch is currently being worked on.