- Warner Bros will retain the rights to Shadow of Mordor‘s Nemesis system until 2036
- The system was set to be used in Monolith Productions’ Wonder Woman game
- Warner Bros shut down Monolith this week, leaving the Nemesis system to be unusable by any other studio for another 11 years
Warner Bros. will retain the patent for Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor‘s Nemesis system until 2036, following the closure of Monolith Productions.
Earlier this week, Warner Bros. shut down three major studios, including Monolith, Player First Games, and Warner Bros. Games San Diego, as part of a restructuring effort to focus on its key franchises like Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC, and Game of Thrones.
Since Monolith is now shuttered, this also means that the developer’s Wonder Woman game, which was announced back in 2021, is also canceled.
The DC superhero game was set to see the return of the studio’s genius Nemesis system, a gameplay mechanic first featured in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor that generates stronger and more intelligent enemies after they’re defeated with knowledge of the player’s past actions.
However, now that Monolith no longer exists, the fate of the Nemesis system is seemingly in limbo, and can’t be used by any other studio as Warner Bros. holds its patent until 2036.
According to the official patent, the company applied in 2016, gained the rights in 2021, and has an expiration date of August 11, 3036, meaning it will remain Warner Bros’ property for another 11 years.
It’s unconfirmed if any future Warner Bros. titles will utilize the mechanic, so many fans currently suspect this means the end of the Nemesis system.
“Cancelling the Wonder Woman game is already bad enough but shutting down the studio that created something as good as THE Nemesis system (that WB patented) is evil,” one user said on X / Twitter.
Not much was known about Wonder Woman during its development, however following its cancellation comic book writer Gail Simone revealed in an X / Twitter thread that she consulted on the game and that it was “gorgeous and expansive”.
We also know that it would have been a single-player action-adventure game, and seemingly have been set on Wonder Woman’s island homeland of Themyscira, feature other DC heroes, as well as elements of Greek mythology, according to a leaked synopsis.
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