Monolith’s Nemesis System Was Created To Stop WB Games Losing Money, And Now The Studio is Closed

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The Nemesis system, introduced in 2014’s Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, was an extraordinary feature. It offered players a dynamic enemy to confront, one that would learn from your strategies and persistently return for battle. This adversary evolved with each encounter, adapting to your tactics, thereby offering a more profound challenge as time went on.

The game was last spotted in 2017’s Shadow of War, and with Monolith shutting down recently, it appears that we may not get to see it again for quite some time. In a recent video, a former high-ranking executive from WB Games explained the motivation behind creating the Nemesis system, but as time has passed, a significant issue with this strategy has become apparent.

That Didn’t Work

Laura Fryer, a former Vice President at WB Games who managed studios such as Monolith, has recently shared her experiences working at the company. Since 2008, she played a significant role in overseeing Monolith’s day-to-day operations and was present during the initial development of the Nemesis system.

The reason it was created is a little convoluted but it all comes down to money.

WB Games recognized an issue in the gaming industry related to secondhand game sales. Instead of keeping a purchased game, players would often exchange it for store credit, which could then be used to acquire other games. This cycle repeated, potentially many times over. WB Games expressed concern because they only received payment for the initial sale and did not benefit from subsequent transactions.

The solution? Make people play for longer and have more fun so they didn’t sell their game at all.

That’s how Fryer put it in her recent video (thanks to IGN for the spot).

With Shadow (of Mordor), we faced the same problem.

How can we design a standalone game that is so engaging players will never part with it? We realized Monolith’s game engine didn’t support a fully open-world like Grand Theft Auto at the time, and our team preferred not to explore multiplayer options. Still, we needed a solution for this limitation.

This line of thought ultimately resulted in the creation of the Nemesis system, a feature widely regarded as both innovative and incredibly stylish in modern gaming.

Fryer emphasized that the secondary market for games was detrimental to developers, as they were losing out on substantial amounts of money from this specific sector. The Nemesis system, however, encouraged players to keep their game for a while longer due to its unpredictable nature and ability to adapt alongside the player.

Unfortunately, as planned, the Nemesis system didn’t materialize in the intended Wonder Woman game by Monolith. This project was halted by WB Games in February 2025, and since then, it has been stored securely by WB Games for another ten years. Unless it’s used in a Batman game or something similar, it seems unlikely that we’ll get to see it again anytime soon.

It’s fortunate for WB Games that the market trend has shifted significantly, with a noticeable decline in the number of individuals purchasing used software nowadays.

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2025-03-25 09:48