We’ll never get to play Shadow of Mordor dev Monolith’s take on Wonder Woman, because the game has been cancelled and the studio shut down. But there’s been an outpouring of enthusiasm aimed at the project in the aftermath of the aforementioned news.
Writing on X (or Twitter), consultant Gail Simone said that the game was “gorgeous and expansive” in an effusive thread of posts.
She enthused: “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.”
She then went on to praise the studio, calling it a “dream team” of developers: “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.”
Simone continued that Monolith had embedded Wonder Woman and DC lore into every aspect of the experience, and described working on it as a “dream come true”.
However, she soberly concluded: “Sometimes you give your all and it doesn’t work out.”
A real bummer!
[source x.com]
Comments 51
A shame we'll never see it. You'd certainly back Monolith to deliver a great game. Couldn't be worse than Suicide Squad ...could it ?
We all got to experience the wonders that were Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Gotham Knights instead...
Talk about a screw up of epic proportions by WB Games.
It’s a shame because if Gail Simone was consulting I believe it could have been really good.
“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.”
Sounds like hellblade 2, great looking game but that’s pretty much all 🤔
It failed because it was not a live service, simple as that
This type of thing is heart breaking for the fans, gut wrenching for the wider gamer community, and absolutely soul destroying for the developers who have poured so much into it.
I feel for them all.
The execs on the other hand…
Didn’t Schreier say it wasn’t progressing and was being rebooted?
From the last report it sounded like it was in trouble and years away from release; no doubt due to meddling from executives with little to no understanding and just wanting dollar signs. Shadow of War had very bad word of mouth due to micro-transactions being shoe-horned in, I imagine similar interference was occurring
@Czar_Khastik No, it failed because they were trying to bring something new to the PS5, rather than pointlessly rehashing a PS4 game from a few years earlier. What were they thinking...?
In all seriousness, shame to see another good studio go down for no apparent reason other than the almighty dollar. Off to join the celestial studio choir, alongside Evolution and Studio Liverpool...
Leaks or it didn't happen
Gail Simone is an amazing writer. Please read her comics!
I didn't realise they had Gail Simone on it. I'm doubly disappointed now
@Czar_Khastik Good thing they are making Hogwarts Legacy 2 a live service game to fill the void for you.
Often when a game is cancelled there is talk of how great the said game was going to be. Just let it die.
To be fair... if it was coming together, it almost certainly wouldn't have been cancelled.... two things can be true - they could have made it "gorgeous and expansive".... but it might also been a just not very good game. Still - not a great way to say goodbye to the studio, friends, and a legacy which unfortunately won't go further. I hope that they have at least learned a lot, and can utilise those skills wherever they land.
For the love of all that's good... please don't hold back the Nemesis patent further WB...
So they just putting salt on the wound now, eff you WB.
@Kienda at least they got paid for their efforts even if the game was cancelled
I'm not even a DC fan, but was definitely interested in this! Such a shame
@get2sammyb
Shut down = action — "The studio was shut down."
Shutdown = noun — "The shutdown of the studio was both shocking and disappointing."
I was interested in it solely in it because of the Nemesis system. That worked so good in the Middle Earth games and we've never seen is since. Such a shame.
@nomither6 pay is one thing.
However, it doesn’t change the fact that people pour a lot of themselves into creative works and to have that work (years of it) now be effectively thrown in the trash and never see the light of day is still not a good feeling.
I want game developers to be in their jobs for more than just money. Because I play these games for my passion and I want passionate people in the industry making the best games possible.
Imagine you are working for nearly eight Years for a Game developer just to Release NOTHING in this time and got Fired and all your effort going down the River. I would cry for days.
I will be more critical..I think every team and member would say so when their job is on the line. It could have been very good like Harry Potter or a flop like Marvels Avengers by another studio.
I mean, all devs say something like that about their cancelled projects.
A great team, sad to see them close. What's worse is their last game made hundreds of millions in gross revenue. It's undeserved anyway you cut it. Corpo d*ckheads strike again.
100% of cancelled games were actually great
It's still a mystery for me of why WB higher ups keeps shooting themself in the foot. Why they love hurting themself???
Oh man, i can see WB higher ups gonna mess DCU too.
Rub it in why don't you PS 🤣
@TravelingBob They still got paid during that time though.
Are we suppose to believe this without seeing any footage
@KillerBoy "Trust me bro"
It´s a pity that a company as storied and long-lasting as WB has crumbled into what it is today over the last few years. So much art and love that countless creatives have poured into their movies, series, comics and games that now either languishes in obscurity or gets milked for soulless cash-grabs by executives who would rather burn it all down than spend even a second to consider what will be left when they bounce to another high-paying job at a different company in a few years.
I have no idea if the Wonder Woman-game would have been great - or even good - but I would certainly have given it a fair shake.
WB canceled this game and killed the studio behind it…but let Rocksteady live after Suicide Squad’s massive money-burning flop.
Always remember that, folks.
This makes me sad because Monolith have a tremendous catalogue of hits. NOLF series, FEAR 1+2 & AvP 2 all received GOTY wins or at least noms. More than most studios can accomplish in double the time. I really hoped they'd go back to FEAR and do something with it.
With the way WB want to inject live services tend to wonder if the likes of Arkham Asylum or Arkham City would've seen light of day today. As much as with the current state of the AAA market would Monolith fare any better elsewhere,BUT I can't help but feel they would've deserved the opportunity to find another home or turn "independent" if WB no longer was interested in them.
The Nemesis system is the coolest gameplay enhancement in videogames over the past 2, maybe 3 generations. The fact WB patented it and then not let anyone use it is borderline criminal. The fact they shuttered the studio who created it and now we will almost certainly NEVER see it appear in another game ever? Fire the suits into the sun.
Can’t say I’ve ever had a burning desire to play a Wonder Woman game.
I would however have liked another LoTR game. With a similar but expanded combat system, a far larger and more varied open world, with far less emphasis on the nemesis system.
Sadly we aren’t going to get that either, so everyone is a loser, not least those investors who took a massive haircut on suicide squad.
Where's shadow of mordor 3?, The first and second one is good. If WB use nemesis system for batman games it will be super cool I think 😃
It's crazy. Why not at least sell the studio instead of shutting it down. I'm sure someone would buy them. So very sad.
@doctommaso Haha, thanks. Corrected!
I'm in the vast minority but I rally wanted to play this game.
Wild that the closed down a studio that has only ever given them hits recently, and has a promising game on the pipeline. Not to say anyone should lose their jobs here, but logic would dictate that just like Player First payed the price so would Rocksteady or WB Montréal, and not Monolith.
Why cancel a game that's 8 years in development? you won't see a dime cancelling it but if it was closer to release should have just released it and recouped some losses instead.
@Oram77 You don't understand black humor, do you? It was sarcasm. Huge, cruel mirror of all publishers thinking sarcasm.
They had Gail Simone on this?! WB can seriously kick rocks for canceling this.
Thats how people describe my mum
Meanwhile, no other developer can use the nemesis system that they patented and don’t use!
Let's be honest, it wouldn't have sold. It was a crazy idea. They should've gone with a more popular character.
It's WB's fault though. Closing the studio is an incredibly short sighted decision.
If it was so expensive why put that much money on it.word up son
Why do companies cancel games that people look forward to but release games that no one wanted?
Could have been good, could have been Gotham Knights/Suicide Squad and just another formula for each developer. Sigh. Even if the trailer was to gauge interest/showcase something still unfortunate.
The Grid 'nemesis' system isn't the same but even still. Test Drive on back in the day used a minigame, no one from Namco used them even though they used it it what Tekken and Ridge Racer their arcade games, that's it. A handful of times and that's it. Some patents sometimes get used, barely get used or expire and no one has made minigames in loading screens even though that patent has expired...... Do people care/pay attention to patents that much not really clearly.]
In this era maybe more so but even still. A waste. Someone will either may something like it (enough to not get sued I guess) or just do whatever else instead. I mean we get generic title screens/loading screens anyways leading up to SSDs in PS5/Xbox Series anyway that had or may still have 3D models like Borderlands/Elder Scrolls/Fallout or tips and bars with a decent artwork for them.
Is a Wonder Woman game strong enough to sell I don't know. Years ago maybe like Catwomen or other types but I'm not surprised it was Gotham Knights and not just a Batgirl game as well limits of gameplay there probably even if Wonder Women has a different moveset/enough in that universe to pull from probably.
But I don't know. Still a waste of Monolith and the other studios talents.
Execs or accounting staff as leaders or otherwise just don't get games and just go oh money, and seem to not understand audiences in the slightest and how to get audiences to want to buy them. I barely buy any 3rd parties anymore so to me if they want to understand PEOPLE not just data they need to think about things. Hardcore are very particular and informed, casuals can be all over the place. They seem to not get that at all and go data matching for chart line diagonally going up not flat or dropping. Yeah and a formula isn't effective forever only a few years. Any idiot in business knows yet these execs, publishers or otherwise seems to forget that and live and magic money land without understanding the next trend/the limits of some projects. It could have been reworked but nope or starting a new. But nope.
Or just go oh staff 'do this' like as if their talents weren't clear enough of past game projects or how they present themselves in projects or otherwise.
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