Warner Bros Games Closes Multiple Studios, Wonder Woman Cancelled

I really, really don't care for how WarnerBros has been handling their games recently.

Maybe they really should sell their gaming division because this is ridiculous

Just heard about this elsewhere… sad news, Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War were great games. I’d kill for a trilogy-capper right about now! 🫠

shut it all down. all of it. WB is a terribly run company and a disgrace.

what a complete and utter waste of resources and teams

Honestly WB sell NRS with the MK IP to MS or Sony and then F off out of the industry. Rocksteady are next i bet. Really infuriating news to be honest and i was excited for the WW game as well.

Can’t say I’m not surprised too be honest

This is a total shame. Monolith was a great studio.

Wonder Woman could’ve been a really cool and fun game. But I didn’t have a lot of faith in it tbh. Sad for the people working hard on these games to be cut off. Feels like such a waste but businesses have to business I guess

Whoever saw this one coming? WB are an absolute mess, what a disaster especially given how Monolith were a clearly talented studio.

Wonder Woman getting canceled isn't a surprise to me, but killing Monolith entirely is appalling.

Monolith deserves better. Their FPSs were groundbreaking.

It's sad to see so many people lose their jobs when the responsibility for the failures lies with the few people at the top, who rarely see a consequence for their poor decisions. I'm sure WB has some new live service games in development to repeat the cycle though.

Time for WB Games to go the way of Disney and start licensing out their IP to other publishers.

Monolith Studios had two successful games in two generations recently and that still wasn't enough to save them. What an amazing industry.

NetherRealm is next. Ed Boon better get his act together.

With the IP WB have control of they should be doing much better than this, maybe it's time to find some external developers to work on their IP.

And there goes the brilliant Nemesis system that WB refuses to allow anyone else to use. Punks.

Damn. Some great talent let go here. I actually really liked MultiVersus for what it was and was looking forward to the WW game. A real shame indeed.

I hope that doesn't mean the Nemesis system is dead too, it made Shadow of Mordor really stand out and it was going to be implemented into Wonder Woman too. WB own the patent to the system.

WB has absolutely no clue how Game Development works… such a shame with Monolith. They had something in the works with their Nemesis System from Middle Earth Games but got cancelt.

This is freaking sad bro, but honestly no one asked or wanted a wonder woman game to begin with.

Warner Bros are a joke, so many great games came from Monolith such as Blood, FEAR and Condemned, as well as creating the excellent nemesis system for Shadows of Mordor

Damn. I’ve played some fun games from them. I adore Shadow Of Mordor but still haven’t played Shadow Of War. I’m gonna give it a shot as a tribute.

The games industry is is in a very bad place and really can't continue the way it is. Budgets, development times, layoffs, and closures. These are terrible times across the board and it's horrible to see. ☹️

@TimelessJubilee Ed boomer rather troll fans of the series on twitter & keep running MK to the ground. i believe he’s just a puppet with no control over his own series anymore

@nomither6 it’s rare they wait for gamers to ask for a game for them to make one 🤷🏾‍♂️

@SMJ yes it is. It’s why I’m always amazed at the glee some of those stories generate when people are laid off and studios close.

Japanese and other international, and independent studios are our only hope.

That is a real shame as the Shadow games were great and I fear this is the end for that series with no hope of any more. Generally speaking I don't think a Wonder Woman game was high up on anyone’s wish list though.

This is sad but expected. We really wish Warner Bros. would let go of their patented Nemesis system. It’s such a great mechanic that should be able to be utilized by more developers. In fact, I remember when it was considered the true next gen concept during the start of the PS4 era.

Man, what a bummer. I loved Shadow of Mordor. Shadow of War stumbled a little, particularly with wedging slap-stick comedy into the story, but the Nemesis system was such a cool mechanic and completely underutilized.

At this point, I suspect WB will be looking to sell their gaming division again.

I don't know who would be in their right mind and want a job in the video games industry.

Monolith Productions, to think that they privatized the nemesis system and closed the studio instead of selling it off 😳🤔🤑👀

It makes a lot more sense of why they killed the real Wonder Woman off in suicide squad. If they knew that Wonder Woman game was gonna be cancelled 🤔

Such a great gaming history Monolith had, some fantastic PC games - Alien V Predator 2, the No One Lives Forever games, Tron 2.0, FEAR 1 & 2, the Condemned games. A very talented studio. Such a shame

Only Japan, Korea and China can save gaming at this rate. They've been carrying this whole gen by theirs back. Western developers need to get their ***** together.

I completely forgot that Wonder Woman game was coming out.

The slaughter continues....... How incredibly disappointing. Feel terrible for those that have been laid off. Never good to be without a job. On a personal level I'm also disappointed to hear that the Wonder Woman game has gotten the axe as I was quite looking forward to it.

@AhmadSumadi Exactly. Every gamer should be sad about talented people losing their jobs and publishers failing. We all want good games.

@Majin_Deicide Thing is, anyone who were to potentially buy any/all of WB Games' studios wouldn't be getting any of the IP, because those are Warner Bros.' (as a whole) IP. So at that point, you're just buying what? Office space and people? You'd be better off not spending the money on buying an entire company and just hire the affected employees directly.

@Ilovecoffee European games have really stepped up this gen

What an absolute waste of time and resources. Can we please make a petition for WB to let other studios use the nemesis system now...

@GirlVersusGame Hi, I read your long message on my thread but it got removed. How can I contact you? I have a lot to tell you. Thanks.

„our key franchises – Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC and Game of Thrones“ I understand this strategy, but isn’t Wonder Woman part of DC? Or is this just standard PR blabla?

Only Japan, Korea and China can save gaming at this rate

Isn’t the entire output of Korea and China like 2 major games so far this generation?(unless you’re counting F2P games). 2 games puts them in the same tier as Finland.

And yet Rocksteady’s shambling corpse is left to continue desecrating their own memory.

Well done, WB. Good choices there.

@DarthMaster09 Hi again, I had a feeling that your thread was going to be locked so I kept a copy of my reply. You could try message me on reddit at (removed - I replied to you there) I use that for gaming and for that topic you had questions about. All my other socials are work related.

I remember Monolith fondly for FEAR 1 and 2, both of which were great. This is a shame.

@Hylian-Unlikey I checked and there's no Hylian Unlikely in the credits, I'm calling bs

WB is a detriment to the gaming (and film, fwiw) industry. Shut down, let the studios go independent, and just license the IPs.

The whole company would be better run by monkeys at this point.

WB is becoming the place for studios to die. Good grief. They really did go all in on SS and now all the studios are paying the price except Rocksteady.

Tell me how this industry is not bloated. Consolidation, whether you agree with it or not, is gonna continue. The sheer amount of games releasing is just too much, and the competition is intense. This is not just in regard to this news, but everything, especially studios closing and the lay offs compiled of the last few years

The suicide squad effect

I hate this, but I'd rather get no Wonder Woman game than a terrible one that fails and makes executives think no one cares about the character. It's a shame though, Monolith were great and now they're dead because of incompetence on someone else's part.

David Zaslav is a menace

Another big company ruins studio article 1 million. Real shame when this happens due to incompetence at the top. I remember Activision shuttering Bizarre Creations and Disney closing Black Rock because some tosser in suits thought it wise to release the arcade racers Blur and Split Second in the SAME week (may have even been the same day) as Grand Theft Auto IV. Guess what..... they didn't sell very well. Would you believe it, 2 niche racing games didn't sell during the release week of the biggest game on earth. Both Studios, especially Bizarre made some good stuff and they have to bear the brunt of the dumbness every single time.

Among other reasons, this is why I think nothing of trailers and reveals without gameplay. Anyone can post a CG cartoon short online and announce an intention to make something, but until you're deep enough in development to have actual gameplay to show off to the public, who can say what'll happen to a project? It's such an easy thing to shut down storied developers and nuke projects mid-development when you're an American tech or media giant run by soulless corpos who lack any long-term vision whatsoever.

Surprised the man in charge is still in charge with most of the failures theyve put out and the obsession with making Live Service games. They then put out Rocksteady are making a new batman game when the devs who made the Arkham Trilogy are no longer there now so it will probably flop.

They've tried to sell their gaming arm but they wanted to sell it for billions but still be the sole owners of the IPs or the only publisher allowed to release the games some rubbish like that

That’s just sad, it really is. Can’t say I’m surprised though.

Sad. Whoever is in charge at WB games clearly does not know anything about video games. If Suicide Squad was more like the Arkham games it probably would have sold well. Hope Monolith finds a new home.

wasn't there a rumor of a ps exclusive batman game , i'm guessing the rumors of them licensing their ip's must be true then

Monolith is not just the nemesis system. They are also Blood, SHOGO, No one Lives Forever, AVP 2, FEAR, and the Condemned games. This is a seriously storied studio.
WB have been the worst of the worst for ages now. I'm going to guess that NRS won't be too far behind.

Can we release the nemesis system to other developers now....

@LikelySatan i would love see a fear revival , im curious if they own the ip or not.

@twitchtvpat Selaco is excellent if you have a PC.

Wasting so much time/money on stupid Multiversus and in the end canceling a potentially super cool single player game, good stuff :/

Are we allowed to curse here? Because f**k this company. Bad enough to go and trademark the nemesis system but to do nothing with it, chase trends that fail (suicide squad) and then shut down studios that actually make good games (monolith), Jesus Christ. Absolutely garbage and their ceo is a capital idiot. Understands nothing but failure, please for the love of god just close your game studio arm and leave the space.

What the...Monolith made the awesome F.E.A.R. and Condemned: Criminal Origins and WB just shut them down?!

F* WB! 👎👎👎👎

Monolith Productions gone when their Shadow Games were some of the most top tier games ever!
I loved both Shadow games, and got platinum in both!

This is what happens when incompetent corporations take over something that they have no damn idea about!

Really? They could've sold monolith. That was a good dev.

The restructure is not gonna do anything to help WB given what has happened to their IP's. Hogwarts was lucky and I am sure they will screw up the next one.

The sad thing is when you see previously successful devs like Monolith being tasked with making something "live services" focused out of an IP not designed for it,then get blamed for it by the same upper management geniuses & shown the door,the same said idiots still collect their bonuses or golden parachute, whilst good studios get shut down.

Meantime,ideas like Monolith's Nemesis system that worked well for the LOTR games are now residing in the patent toy chest in the attic,whilst it's creators will never be able to use it.

Much like Hermen Hulst,it's remarkable how certain execs manage to avoid the axe whilst throwing their own captain's call misfires under the bus!🙄😕

I just wish they would release the Williams/Midway classics on PS5.

Wow, shout out to Monolith Productions, such an amazing studio that deserved more for what they brought to the table. Really hope all these devs land in other spots and keep bringing their talent to video games.

Not too psyched about what Mortal Kombat has become under WB.

Also there goes the Nemesis system concept WB somehow managed to patent... now no games can use the idea.

I got MK XL and it asked me to buy 11 on the title screen, when 11 was already installed. I was playing XL because I thought that would mean all the begging on every screen would be minimized. It was ridiculously egregious. I just want IX on my Switch. Or a way to play MK2 Remix on a portable. The series is dead to me otherwise.

Saw this one coming since that troubled report on the Wonder Woman game earlier this month.
Sad, but not surprised.

@Deljo

Funny that you know ***** so well that you can ascertain the species..
In my language deljo means buttplug, are you per chance a bovine buttplug?

It is so sad to know that the creators of the nemesis system is gone. I really wish this makes other studios give WB a giant finger of the f u c k and start utilizing similar systems. Just have it done, and call it something else.

I have very little faith in the industry to make the right calls that suit my world view which makes me grateful for BG3 and KCD2 that will last me for years to come.

To think that Haven still exists and Jade Raymond has a job when Monolith Studios' talent don't. Sony please kill off the freeloader... So the ressources can go to actual talent.

Actually, I know what happened. Raymond must have made Jimbo sign an unbreakable contract that even stipulates that no one can practice any oversight in their work. Imagine the fun times Jimbo had in this sort of negotiation process.

Every time I sleuth for ANY redeeming quality or feature on Haven I find the same emptyness as was inherent of Abandoned, the scammy vapour ware.

Can we please have actual reporting on wtf Haven is doing? In this state of industry we need diligent journalists that do look around and check for scammers. Imagine breaking that story. But then again, the entire industry gave abandoned a pass from the scrutiny. Plenty of hype srticles, and just one article with a question mark from the industry when he took the money and ran.

Sigh. There goes my hope for a fun DC game.

@nomither6 I wanted a Wonder Woman game

but if it got cancelled then for sure it was in a really bad state, likely due to mismanagement. So I look at it as a win for us Wonder Woman fans as I believe it's better to not have a WW game rather than a ***** WW game that disrespects the character.

Really bad and unfortunate news for these devs... We haven't had any serious news or even screenshots of WW that game was definitely dead from the jump

@s22222 i’d rather take the game if i was a fan instead of no game at all, but to each their own

@EfYI a bovine buttplug?? Now I know why your mum keeps texting me, cheers bud 👍

The mismanagement of this company is absolutely absurd and should be considered criminal

I think WB is possibly the worst publisher in the industry

It is all only backlash of their acts they made to gaming industry (meaning ALL developers).

Since World of Warcraft success, everybody try to make same milking cow. Pushing industry towards MMO has reached it's peak years ago and all years now it is only about dragging players from one to another.

Yes, MTXs hepled to slice more money, but it is not solution.

More terrible acts they made to singleplayer. They jumped on delusion wagon their game must be bigger, better, longer. This myth reached absurdly huge dimensions so we get to point where thousands people work for years on one game, thinking it will live for years.

None of them just stop and think about current situation. What is current state of gaming?

Millions of players are playing one game for years (Fortnite, Fifa, GTA5...) and they are not willing to spend their money elsewere, only occasionally. Rest is pushed to thinking any new game must bring long game experience. But it also leads to "don't spend on another game". Constant updates, seasons, added content... this all leads to "you don't need another game".

Simply, they are wondering why people don't spend on new games, when they are pushed on not spending on another games.

Isn't it better give people shorter, smaller, simpler games and if it succeed sell them sequels?
No stupid DLCs, no MTXs, just equaly good stand alone sequels.

Leave MMO live their life, where lost souls drown their gaming in endless grinding, never ending repeating same things, and don't try to make same thing out of any singleplayer game.

Any game isn't famous because of it is bigger or longer than another. Don't create huge worlds just to fill it with generic content. Make worlds adequate to it's story. It saves resources, time and money.

Focus on fun, not size!

...they have forgotten this.

Could have at least sold off Monolith to another company before destroying yourself WB.

Monolith was an absolute great developer, very few even just okay games. Most of their library was good or excellent.

I really liked their 2 Mordor lord of the rings games.

Unfortunate, will miss them, their talent and more because of bad business decisions by the higher ups and publisher.

If no one buys up Monolith or the talent of the others to form a studio what a waste of good talent. Hopefully a Tango like revival happens but who knows.