https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/gollum-publisher-lays-off-developers-191256620.html
Daedalic Entertainment is no longer in the development business after last month's critical misfire
Eh, I get it. As popular as the brand is, I can understand studios being hesitant to take the main cast on a new adventure, since it's not very believable with what they already do.
There can be an appeal to a "just a nobody" story in the same universe, but then the only thing you can rely on is the setting and brand recognition.
A side character turned main character let's you "expand the universe" with a known character, and nest something with the existing story, without feeling like beating a dead horse in a fan-fic-esque revisit of the main cast.
I was curious with Gollum, how they'd make an interesting game with an engaging story about a generally unlikeable side character.
Turns out they didn't. But it probably would've been very impressive if they had!
They could have used the Silmarillion instead. That thing is chock full of information a lot of people don't know that could have been used.