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Current Events > LOTR Gollum Developer Accused Of Unethical Labor And Using AI

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Garabandal
10/12/23 7:07:44 PM
#1:


https://www.gamespot.com/articles/lotr-gollum-developer-accused-of-unethical-labor-and-using-ai-to-write-apology-statement/1100-6518373/

A new report claims that The Lord of the Rings: Gollum developer Daedalic Entertainment had a toxic and troubled workplace environment, which underpaid employees and encouraged crunch.

A video from German outlet Game Two (via IGN), alleges Daedalic entertainment enforced unpaid overtime, tried to pay staff below minimum wage, and fostered a culture of crunch. Game Two directly interviewed or exchanged emails with 32 people involved with Daedalic and/or in the development of Gollum.

The report alleges Daedalic exploited young employees and interns and underpaid them for their work. Executives at the company reportedly insisted employees to work late hours for no extra pay and normalized crunch as a regular part of the industry. One developer described the environment as "an atmosphere of fear." IGN reached out to their own sources, which confirmed Game Two's findings and claimed the company's problems were an open secret in the German games industry. In a statements provided to Game Two, Daedalic denied currently employing interns and the work culture allegations.

The report also alleges that the apology publisher Nacon posted on social media was written with AI. Reportedly, Daedalic developers were not made aware of the statement until after it was published.

Gollum was met with a negative critical reception upon release. Low sales resulted in Daedalic's next Lord of the Rings project being canceled, the company's development arm ending production, and the layoff of 25 employees.

I guess that explains why the game came out so janky.

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havean776
10/12/23 7:10:12 PM
#2:


Dam imagine being forced to work to work overtime and crunch just for the fucking Gollum game.

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lilORANG
10/12/23 7:11:26 PM
#3:


How you gonna allow yourself to work unpaid overtime. have some self-respect. Yeesh.

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Agent_Stroud
10/12/23 7:31:07 PM
#4:


This game is the gift that keeps on giving in terms of how much of a sheer embarrassment it wound up being for all involved.

Whats next? The studio head just so happens to be an Andrew Tate superfan or something equally goofy?

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AceMos
10/12/23 7:32:16 PM
#5:


lilORANG posted...
How you gonna allow yourself to work unpaid overtime. have some self-respect. Yeesh.
ppl get told they will be fired if they do not work unpaid overtime

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lilORANG
10/12/23 7:36:44 PM
#6:


AceMos posted...
ppl get told they will be fired if they do not work unpaid overtime
That's not exactly a threat when the job is shit anyways

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AceMos
10/12/23 7:44:18 PM
#7:


lilORANG posted...
That's not exactly a threat when the job is shit anyways
and most ppl dont have the luxary to quit as they have billsto pay

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rexcrk
10/12/23 8:07:17 PM
#8:


What an absolute disaster of a game


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Rika_Furude
10/12/23 8:08:21 PM
#9:


lilORANG posted...
That's not exactly a threat when the job is shit anyways
most Americans live paycheck to paycheck
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DrizztLink
10/12/23 8:08:21 PM
#10:


It's like cheating on a test, failing anyway, then getting caught and expelled.

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Tyranthraxus
10/12/23 8:10:18 PM
#11:


DrizztLink posted...
It's like cheating on a test, failing anyway, then getting caught and expelled.

Except the way you were cheating was by copying from another guy who was taking a different test.

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AceMos
10/12/23 8:20:46 PM
#12:


Tyranthraxus posted...
Except the way you were cheating was by copying from another guy who was taking a different test.
that said other person cheated on

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__aCEr__
10/12/23 8:38:19 PM
#13:


We don't currently have any developers who are interns.

You don't any developers at all anymore.

Exactly.

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Garabandal
10/12/23 10:56:26 PM
#14:


The fact that they wrote their apology with AI is killing me

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Agent_Stroud
10/12/23 11:30:58 PM
#15:


Garabandal posted...
The fact that they wrote their apology with AI is killing me

And they didnt even proofread it before sending it out on top of that! If Matt McMuscles doesnt make a Wha Happun on Gollum soon, Im personally going to be disappointed since theres bound to be such a juicy story to tell on why this game wound up the absolute shitshow that it is, methinks.

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TheGoldenEel
10/12/23 11:39:08 PM
#16:


lilORANG posted...
That's not exactly a threat when the job is shit anyways
the whole game development industry basically preys on nerds who spent their whole lives wanting to make video games

In general the pay is lower and the hours are substantially higher than comparable non-video game software developer jobs but the people who stick with it are all desperate to work in the industry

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Just_a_loser
10/12/23 11:45:18 PM
#17:


Rika_Furude posted...
most Americans live paycheck to paycheck
What does that have to do with Daedalic, being a German developer?

You people shitting on Americans all the time are insufferable.

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Ninjaluver
10/12/23 11:48:12 PM
#18:


Crunch? What did they crunch? Cheetos?

Because there's no way anybody put in overtime to produce a product that bad.
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DD_Divine
10/12/23 11:48:33 PM
#19:


AI would have made the game better

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Rika_Furude
10/13/23 12:01:46 AM
#20:


Just_a_loser posted...
What does that have to do with Daedalic, being a German developer?

You people shitting on Americans all the time are insufferable.
Why are you intentionally missing the point?
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Jagr_68
10/13/23 12:03:17 AM
#21:


Agent_Stroud posted...
This game is the gift that keeps on giving in terms of how much of a sheer embarrassment it wound up being for all involved.

Whats next? The studio head just so happens to be an Andrew Tate superfan or something equally goofy?

Well actually...

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