‘The Lord of the Rings: Gollum’ devs claim ChatGPT was used to write the apology for how bad the game is

‘The Lord of the Rings: Gollum’ devs claim ChatGPT was used to write the apology for how bad the game is

It’s currently the lowest-rated game of the year on Metacritic. It’s no secret that this Lord of the Rings game didn’t live up to expectations, as even our own Gollum review gave it a measly 3/10. Lacking the Tolkien flair the Middle-earth series needs and being bogged down by shallow, repetitive gameplay made the game “downright disappointing,” and that’s a sentiment shared by most.

With Lord of the Rings Gollum developer Daedalic Entertainment closing down its development arm after the game’s release, German YouTube channel Game Two has released a deep dive into the game with developer interviews, called “Why Gollum HAD to fail,” and there’s a lot packed into the runtime (spotted by Knoebel, via VGC).

Multiple former Daedalic developers were interviewed for the report, but Game Two adds that the infamous Lords of the Rings Gollum apology wasn’t actually written by the team, but by publisher Nacon instead. Game Two then adds that the apology was itself penned using ChatGPT and not double-checked ahead of it being published, according to anonymous sources. The first line of the apology calls the game “The Lord of Ring: Gollum,” for example.

According to a recent report, Daedalic Entertainment, the developer behind the infamous The Lord of the Rings: Gollum game, has claimed that the apology was generated by the AI-powered text generator, ChatGPT. This report also states the developers had no knowledge of this apology being written and that it was a decision from its publisher, Nacon. Alongside that, Daedelic Entertainment employees also went into detail about what had gone wrong with Lord of the Rings: Gollum during development.

Earlier this year, the licensed game had launched to a rather overwhelming negative response, evident with how Lord of the Rings: Gollum became one of the lowest-rated games of 2023. Several critics and fans have cited the game’s technical problems being the biggest factors to this negative reception, compounded by the gameplay that many found to be derivative and uninteresting. The graphics weren’t a big selling point either, nor was its narrative compelling to many. As such, the game failed to deliver on all fronts to many people, with gamers walking away unimpressed with the big licensed game. The developers have recently spoken up about its troubled development and the source of the struggles the team faced.