Game developers defend Lord of the Rings Gollum's poor reviews: "No one wants to ship a bad game"

gamesradar.com:

Following The Lord of the Rings: Gollum's negative reviews, game developers are sharing their stories of rocky launches. 

It's no secret that Daedalic Entertainment's Lord of the Rings game hasn't been received very well. In our The Lord of the Rings: Gollum review, we gave it 2 out of 5 stars with many other outlets giving it a similar, if not worse, rating. With all the bleak discussion surrounding Gollum's release, some game developers have openly defended the title and shared their own stories. 

One of these developers is Dannie Carlone, senior environment artist at God of War studio Santa Monica Studio. In their tweet, Carlone shares a photo of a wall in their home that features all of the games they've worked on so far, including God of War Ragnarok, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Marvel's Avengers, and Sonic Boom. This last game is especially important, as Carlone explains: "I display my 'lowest score' game because I'm proud of the time I had working with some of my favorite people in this industry."

In the same tweet, Carlone shares the Metascore for Sonic Boom which is a humble 32 and adds: "Games are hard to make. Regardless of the score, every project has positives/lessons learned," the tweet continues, "Some things are out of your hands. Be kind to each other."

Games are hard to make. Regardless of the score, every project has positives/lessons learned.I display my "lowest score" game because I'm proud of the time I had working with some of my favorite people in this industry. Some things are out of your hands. Be kind to each other. https://t.co/PNM0dlhqiR pic.twitter.com/G30l6wtRTfMay 25, 2023

Similarly, Silent Hill: Townfall director John McKellan of No Code shared a screenshot of the Metascore for All Points