Warner Bros. Games revealed that they would be making big changes to their strategy for the future on Wednesday (via Bloomberg), a decision which led to the closure of three of their gaming studios — Monolith Productions, known for the Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War games, MultiVersus developer First Games and Warner Bros. Games San Diego.
One big-name title which Monolith was working on was Wonder Woman, which was announced in December of 2021. Unfortunately, with the closure of Monolith, production on Wonder Woman “will not move forward,” said a WB Games rep in a statement. “Our hope was to give players and fans the highest quality experience possible for the iconic character, and unfortunately this is no longer possible within our strategic priorities. This is another tough decision, as we recognize Monolith’s storied history of delivering epic fan experiences through amazing games.”
Fans of the iconic superheroine weren’t the only ones disappointed by the news. Comic book writer Gail Simone, known for her work on Secret Six, Deadpool, Agent X, Birds of Prey and of course, Wonder Woman revealed that she had been hired to work on the game in an advisory position and that she was among those disappointed because the game was shaping up to be “gorgeous, expansive,” “a great game” and reverential to the Wonder Woman and DC lore.
“I was asked to do long-term consulting on the game, and I was thrilled to do it, it was a perfect storm of stuff I adore,” Simone said on Twitter/X. “Wonder Woman, video games, and one of my favorite games studios: Monolith, who produced the Game Of The Year Mordor games, that I was completely addicted to.
“The game was 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.”
One of Wonder Woman‘s developers shared Simone’s appreciation for the game in the Monlith Discord.
“I know every dev will say this about something they worked on, but it was going to be amazing,” the developer told Monolith fans. “I am not allowed to say much but I can at least say that every single person was pouring their heart into it and it showed. Our narrative team had a fantastic and deeply meaningful story. Especially in these really difficult times, I felt the world really needed the story we were telling.”
In light of the studio closures, the Warner Bros. Games rep said they would be reshifting their focus to some of the company’s key video game franchises. “We have had to make some very difficult decisions to structure our development studios and investments around building the best games possible with our key franchises — Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Game of Thrones.”
Wonder Woman was intended to be “a single player open-world action game, [which would] introduce an original story set in the DC Universe and allow players to become Diana of Themyscira in the fight to unite her Amazon family and the humans from the modern world.” The game was also strongly rumored to be using Monolith’s Nemesis system from the Shadow of Mordor games, which is patented exclusively by Warner Bros. until 2036. The Nemesis system is an in-game mechanic which designs unique enemies with their own progressive strengths, weaknesses and special abilities. The enemies in the Nemesis system can remember previous encounters with your character and react accordingly to them, form their own in-game hierarchy with captains and warchiefs overseeing different parts of the world, and even grow stronger in certain aspects or in rank, to the point that they can seek revenge on your playable character.
The reinstatement of the Nemesis system was one of the biggest reasons we were looking forward to Monolith’s Wonder Woman game, as it’s a mechanic that is sorely underutilized in today’s gaming landscape.
Are you disappointed that the canceled Wonder Woman game wasn’t given an opportunity to see the light of day? Were you looking forward to playing as Diana of Themyscira, one of the members of DC’s Trinity alongside Batman and Superman? Let us know in the comments.
