Lord Of The Rings: Gollum Delayed To 2022 To Better Meet Player Expectations

[Nergal]

 

Developer Daedalic Entertainment is delaying Lord of the Rings: Gollum out of its 2021 launch window to a nebulous 2022 due date; in addition, the studio announced a partnership with Nacon, which will now co-publish the project. Daedalic first unveiled Gollum in 2019, while a teaser trailer from last summer unleashed plans for a release on PC via Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles. Not too long thereafter, news of a Nintendo Switch version went live.

The Middle-earth setting is, of course, no stranger to video games. In fact, Lord of the Rings fans have spent plenty of time in the fictional landscape in recent years, thanks to Monolith's Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War titles. Gollum won't offer a similar action-heavy experience, though. Instead, players will us the creature's agile nature to slink around enemies and stealthily navigate environments. Very little of the title has been seen in action, so there are still plenty of gameplay-related details about Gollum that remain under wraps.

Fans must wait a little while longer for more concrete information to surface, since Daedalic Entertainment has announced that Lord of the Rings: Gollum is no longer on track for 2021. Now the game will arrive on an unspecified date in 2022, the developer said. In announcing the news, Daedalic additionally noted it is teaming up with Nacon, formerly known as Bigben Interactive, to co-publish the project. Apparently, such a partnership should ensure the game "will meet the expectations of fans of The Lord of the Rings and fully leverage the power of the new generation of consoles."


As is always the case, game delays are ultimately good news. Hopefully, the extra time will allow Daedalic to further polish the experience. Delays in general are becoming a dime a dozen this year, due in large part to the lingering effects that COVID-19 has on the entertainment industry. Earlier this month, WB Games pushed Hogwarts Legacy to next year. Ubisoft postponed the release of Riders Republic the very next day. Needless to say, there are likely several more game delays on the horizon.

This year will still be packed with compelling titles, however. Resident Evil Village hits stores in May, for instance; Arkane's Deathloop is slated to launch around the same time. Plus, there's no telling what the usually packed fall months will entail for players across all platforms.

Lord of the Rings: Gollum will be available in 2022 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.