Lord of the Rings: Gollum developer acquired by its publisher

We might not know the release date for Lord of the Rings: Gollum, but there’s still some important news happening around the upcoming stealth game. Its German developer Daedalic Entertainment has been acquired by French publisher Nacon.

The news came in the form of a press release, in which Nacon announced it had acquired Daedalic for €53 million (roughly $6.2 million USD). Nacon was already set to publish Daedalic’s Gollum game, but this acquisition was done “to tighten their collaboration.” Daedalic will retain “a high degree of autonomy in development,” according to the press release, while Nacon supports the studio “through its sales, publishing and marketing teams.” This sounds like a good way for both companies to combine their resources.

Notably, The Lords of the Rings and The Hobbit game and movie rights are going to auction soon, and they’re expected to fetch around $2 billion. The Saul Zaentz Company, which owns these rights, is the one that licensed Gollum out for Daedalic’s upcoming game. Nacon sees this license leading to “more new experiences in the future,” but the auction may throw a wrench in those plans depending on how things go.

Nacon’s acquisition is one of many happening across the gaming sphere right now. Microsoft is set to acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion. Sony, meanwhile, is moving to purchase Destiny 2 developer Bungie for $3.6 billion.