The Nemesis system introduced in 2014’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor was a phenomenal thing. It gave players a living, breathing force to fight, one that would learn how you played and keep coming back for more, adapting to your tactics and providing a deeper challenge time after time.
It was last seen in 2017’s Shadow of War, and following the closure of Monolith last month, it seems unlikely we’ll see it again for a very long time. In a recent video, a former VP of WB Games explained exactly why the Nemesis system was created in the first place, but the real reason reveals a gaping flaw in the plan all these years later.
That Didn’t Work
Laura Fryer, formerly a VP at WB Games who oversaw studios including Monolith, recently went on record talking about her time at the company. She oversaw Monolith’s operations since 2008, which means she was around for the inception of the Nemesis system.
The reason it was created is a little convoluted but it all comes down to money.
WB Games identified a financial flaw in the industry in the form of second-hand game sales. Players would buy a game once and then sell it back to a store as a ‘trade-in’, with it then changing hands again and again, most likely. WB Games was concerned with seeing no value on those successive sales and ‘only getting paid for the first copy sold’.
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 do we create a single-player game that is so compelling, that people keep the disc in their library forever? We knew Monolith’s game engine wasn’t yet capable of having a fully open world like a GTA, and this team wasn’t interested in going the multiplayer route. But we still had to solve for the constraint.
And this thinking is what led to the Nemesis system, arguably one of the most creative and coolest game features in recent memory.
Fryer stressed that second-hand game sales were ‘a disaster’ for developers who were missing out on the ‘millions of dollars’ generated by that particular market. The Nemesis system made players want to hold on to their game for a little longer because it was so unpredictable and it evolved with the gamer.
Sadly, the Nemesis system didn’t pan out as intended. It was due to appear in the Wonder Woman game that Monolith was working on before being shuttered by WB Games in February 2025. It’s now under lock and key at WB Games for another decade, so unless it’s used in a Batman game or something, it’s unlikely you’ll ever see it again.
Fortunately for WB Games, the industry has changed and drastically fewer people buy second-hand software anymore.
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Netherrealm and Rocksteady should be closed
Shut down NRS already they don’t make anything good and MK1 flopped. WB Games need to close down already license out the games! License the system too. Monolith could have made a Jonah Hex game and should have.