On vendettas and nemeses WB axes Shadow of Mordor maker in setback for clever, sadly patented game system Opinion: By playing it safe, WB makes it harder for other games to experiment. Kevin Purdy Feb 26, 2025 5:51 pm | 3 "Tell me the truth, nowhave you been crafting games involving 'social vendettas and followers'? Hmm? Have you?" Credit: WB Games "Tell me the truth, nowhave you been crafting games involving 'social vendettas and followers'? Hmm? Have you?" Credit: WB Games Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreGame studio Monolith, part of Warner Bros. Games until yesterday's multi-studio shutdown, had a notable track record across more than 30 years, having made Blood, No One Lives Forever, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, F.E.A.R., and, most recently, the Lord of the Rings series, Shadow of Mordor andShadow of War.Those games, derived from J.R.R. Tolkien's fiction, had a "Nemesis System," in which the enemies that beat the player or survive a battle with them can advance in level, develop distinct strengths and weaknesses, and become an interesting subplot and motivation in the game. Monolith's next game, the now-canceled Wonder Woman,was teased more than three years ago, and said to be "powered by the Nemesis System."Not only will Wonder Woman not be powered by the Nemesis System, but likely no other games will be, either, at least until August 2036. That's when "Nemesis characters, nemesis forts, social vendettas and followers in computer games," patent US2016279522A1, is due to expire. Until then, any game that wants to implement gameplay involving showdowns, factions, and bitter NPC feelings toward a player must either differentiate it enough to avoid infringement, license it from Warner Brothers, or gamble on WB Games' legal attention.It's bad enough that talented developers were let go. That one of their most notable innovations ends up locked up in a corporate vault, for more than a decade after they ceased to exist, is quite the sad footnote.Nobody wants to end upCrazy Taxi'da patent on loading screen mini-games. That patent was issued despite plenty of "loading screen games" existing before 1995, includingInvade-a-load. Similar patents have been issued fortheMass Effectdialogue wheel, a "sanity meter" inEternal Darkness, and basically the entire concept of Crazy Taxi, such that Sega tried to eliminateThe Simpsons: Road Rage entirely and recoup all its revenue. That case was settled out of court, and you haven't seen Crazy Taxi-like arrows above game vehicles to this day. Ars' Kyle Orland wrote in 2007 about how a 1989 patent for racing against your best time, or a "ghost racer," led to license payments from games made in the mid-2000s.In the US patent system, as Ernest Adams argued long ago in Gamasutra, patents are supposed to be for inventions that "produce a concrete, useful, and tangible result." Game mechanics like the Nemesis System exist only inside a computer, and it's a valid question whether your enjoyment of an orc's hatred of you constitutes anything concrete, useful, or tangible, such that only one firm should be given exclusive rights to profit from it.Mutually assured patent destruction One of Nintendo's patents on a Tears of the Kingdom mechanic, rendered in Japanese patent office style. Credit: Nintendo One of Nintendo's patents on a Tears of the Kingdom mechanic, rendered in Japanese patent office style. Credit: Nintendo While just under 50 percent of US patents filed have been granted in recent years, video game patents are handed out for only 6 percent of filings, according to IP law firm Heslin, Rothenberg, Farley and Mesiti (HRFM). Why file them at all, then, if the process is slow, expensive, and can generate backlash? The law firm suggests that, as in many other fields, patent filing has become more of a necessary defensive posture than a useful promise of future gain.Nintendo took out 31 patents on systems and mechanics in 2023's The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The HRFM law firm suggests that Nintendo, to protect its multi-year investment in a new title in its marquee series, is taking out patents to prevent other game makers, or patent opportunists, from blocking or copying its game wholesale. Later, Nintendo can, like most firms, give up its provisional applications, having recouped its investment and unwilling to pay the heavy costs of moving forward.Patents held by Konami, Bandai Namco, Nintendo, and Sony blocked hundreds of other gaming firms' patents from taking hold in 2022, according to a report from the analysts at Patent Result. The system works, if that's what you want out of the system.Because game development wasnt risky enoughMany attorneys, pundits, and game development professionals believe that broader, non-hardware game patents, like Microsoft's "Scoring based upon goals achieved and subjective elements," would likely fall apart on any serious legal challenges. But which developer, big or small, wants to try that theory out with WB Games, which now has few other ways to make money from its Monolith acquisition? It's not a firm known for picking developers over corporate policy.So now the Nemesis System sits in limbo, patented by a conglomerate that, as parts of its restructuring, has said it will focus on four franchises:Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC Comics (primarily Batman), and Game of Thrones. While retrenching into safer bets, it is simultaneously making it harder for other developers to improve, expand upon, or simply revisit a good idea that will no longer find use inside its owner.IGN's Wesley Yin-Poole notes that some game systems, like mercenaries in Assassin's Creed:Odysseyand the Census inWatch Dogs: Legion,included some of the same procedurally generated, history-responsive feel, and avoided legal threats so far. But those titles are both published by Ubisoft, which could afford to license the system if it wanted and afford a robust legal defense, if needed.Monolith may be just one (notably talented) studio, and game mechanic patents may only represent 6 percent of those applied for. But patents like this feel like they're stalking the broader industry, waiting to strike just when they seemed forgotten.Kevin PurdySenior Technology ReporterKevin PurdySenior Technology Reporter Kevin is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering open-source software, PC gaming, home automation, repairability, e-bikes, and tech history. He has previously worked at Lifehacker, Wirecutter, iFixit, and Carbon Switch. 3 Comments