When new employees start at Weta Workshop, they’re herded into a meeting room with a long, unassuming conference table. On the walls, behind panes of glass and in between statues, swords, and masks, are five Oscars. Four of them were awarded to the studio for its efforts on Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films. New hires are offered a chance to hold one of those Oscars, but there’s a catch: handling the golden statuette marks you with a curse, preventing you from ever winning one yourself. Rarely do inductees take Weta up on the offer.
Weta Workshop’s fledgling Game Studio hasn’t achieved the same level of prestige as its film and special effects teams. There’s been no success to build superstition, no room for myths. And yet, the studio’s first major console release, Tales of the Shire, seems to have inherited its own curse.
According to more than a dozen current and former employees, the game’s development has been hobbled by ineffective management, plagued with poor decision-making and communication, sidetracked by circumstance, and, ultimately, spoiled by the company’s inexperience in building high-profile video games. One former employee said, “It’s a miracle this game is coming out at all.” Another said making it has been “hell.”
The studio lurched from deadline to deadline to get the game out the door, and a culture of distrust and crunch left staff feeling burnt out, they said. All those who spoke with The Verge requested anonymity, fearing retaliation for breaches of confidentiality.
In October 2024, the studio announced to staff that it would be restructuring, laying off nine staff and disestablishing the positions of lead producer and lead game designer.
