An investigation by German outlet Game Two into what went wrong during the development of Lord of the Rings: Gollum has made claims that the publisher’s apology for the terrible state of the released game was written by AI ChatGPT. The claim appears alongside a laundry list of alleged issues behind the game’s development, including poorly paid crunch and unpleasant working conditions at developer Daedalic. The German developer Daedalic cut its teeth on point-and-click adventures.
There was a lot of internal enthusiasm for the world of Tolkien, and it was a huge scoop for a small German studio, giving the company aspirations of international success. With worldwide attention from the gaming press, and a lot of promotional activity, the ambition was in place to develop a AAA game. Except, it seems from this report, it wasn’t matched by hiring a team large enough to achieve it.