After interviewing a total of 32 former and current employees of the studio, the report outlines that the failure of the project can be attributed to a bunch of factors ranging from poor management to extensive crunch and developer incompetency. Daedalic Entertainment didn’t have experience working on a 3D game with AAA levels of ambition since it was always known for its 2D point-and-click adventure projects.
Add to that the rather measly budget of $15 million for such an ambitious project, the team wasn’t able to hire the required talent to realise those ambitions. The developer allegedly tried to get more funds for the game, but those pleas were consistently rejected by at-the-time owner Bastei Lübbe. In addition to this, the developers were forced to work long hours by CEO Carsten Fichtelmann and COO Stephan Harms- all of which came together to create a stressful environment.
But despite all that crunch and hard work, Gollum just wasn’t ready to be released. So when marketing for the game started, the developers had to resort to damage control measures to minimize the outrage that would happen. It’s a sad state of affairs that such malpractices continue to be a persistent problem in the games industry, and Gollum is just one game in a long line of disappointing recent releases.
http://dlvr.it/SxDTn1