More Details On Axed “Wonder Woman” Game

Following the news of game developer Monolith Productions being shut down by Warner Bros. Games, more details have emerged about the company’s highly anticipated and now cancelled “Wonder Woman” game title.

A long-term consultant on the game was veteran comic book writer Gail Simone who wrote many issues of the “Wonder Woman” comic. She said in X that the game was shaping up to be “gorgeous and expansive”:

“It was beautiful to look at. I am not going to give details for a number of reasons, but every effort was made to make this not just a great game, but a great WONDER WOMAN game. A showpiece epic.

And all of that was because of the team. Everyone who worked on it brought their a-game. Programmers, artists, designers, everyone. I don’t know that I have ever worked with a team that cared more about making sure the end product was perfect.”

With grand ambition came grand problems. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier spoke on Kinda Funny Games and broke down what happened. He says following the success of their two “Shadow of Mordor” games, the company was developing a new IP to expand their famed Nemesis system to a procedural narrative.

The Nemesis system, used in the ‘Mordor’ games and patented by Warners in 2016, allows enemy NPC’s to remember you and react accordingly as well as have their own emergent storylines.

Warners however wasn’t interested in new IP, so in 2021 they pivoted to “Wonder Woman” with the trailer released that year at The Game Awards to show off the character model.

Work got underway with the plan being to implement the Nemesis system, but in reverse to the way it was used in ‘Mordor’ – rather than used for enemies it would be used on allies – allowing for potentially richer supporting characters and narrative.

Unfortunately it “wasn’t coming together”. So, in early 2024, the entire project was rebooted – switching directors and going for a more “God of War” (2018) style traditional action game. However “by then it was kind of too late.”

Now comes the worst of all worlds – Monolith Productions is being closed, the “Wonder Woman” game is scrapped, and the Nemesis system remains patented by Warners until 2036 who seemingly have yet to do anything else with it.

Despite plenty of accusations and blame going around, Simone says: “I know there’s a lot of finger-pointing going on, but everyone I worked with from Monolith and WB both was enthusiastic and supportive. Everyone wanted to make the best game ever. Sometimes, you give your all and it doesn’t work out.”

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