Three Warner Bros. game studios, including Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor developer Monolith Productions, are all being shut down, but its fantastic Nemesis system may remain behind WB's doors for the foreseeable future thanks to an old patent.
The Nemesis system is, simply, a stroke of genius. In Shadow of Mordor, it allows regular ol' orcs to transcend from grunt status to becoming lethal enemies in their own right. If they beat you in a fight, they can be promoted, to be encountered later on as an even tougher foe. Enemies can remember your previous encounters and respond accordingly. Depending on how you play, you might end up with a rival that others haven't even heard of, making for a wholly unique experience.
It's such a good system that perhaps it's unsurprising that Warner Bros. wanted to patent it. As Eurogamer points out, the "nemesis characters, nemesis forts, social vendettas and followers in computer games" patent – which was granted in 2021 – apparently isn't expected to expire until August 2036, according to Google Patents. That means Warner Bros. will be able to hold onto those rights for years to come, even though Monolith Productions sadly no longer exists.
Not every game company uses patents to outright prevent others from using their systems. In January, Sega's head of Corporate Development HQ, Kikuo Masumoto, explained that Sega allows others to use their patented ideas if they're willing to apply for a license. The general manager of Konami's legal department, Shunsuke Murase, added that this offers a way for companies to recuperate investment. It's not clear if this is Warner Bros.' goal or if it really does want to prevent anyone else from including the Nemesis system in their games – the latter would be the worst-case scenario for fans, given that the actual studio behind it has now been closed.
Monolith Productions' open-world Wonder Woman game was originally set to use the Nemesis system, too, but the whole title has been canceled amid the Warner Bros. studio closures. Before that, Bloomberg reported that according to anonymous sources, the studio had scrapped the idea of using the Nemesis system in Wonder Woman to focus its efforts on making a more standard action-adventure game. Former Wonder Woman comic book writer Gail Simone has revealed that she was a consultant on the game, and said that "every effort was made" to make it a "showpiece epic."
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