The Wonder Woman game being developed by Monolith Productions might be a live-service title, in line with Warner Bros.’ stated goals.
A job advert for Monolith Productions seems to indicate that the studio’s upcoming Wonder Woman game might be a live-service title.
The advert, which was spotted by Wccftech, is for a ‘Lead Software Engineer, Gameplay’. “As a Gameplay Lead, you will lead the team responsible for core gameplay systems inherent to Monolith’s proprietary engine, including combat, movement, the Nemesis system, and more!” reads the job description.
(NB. Monolith pioneered the Nemesis system in its 2014 game Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor, which sees some enemies return to dog the player again and again. Warner Bros. then patented the Nemesis system in 2015, as Ryan Lambie discusses in this exploration of the ups and downs of patented game mechanics. But I digress.)
The really interesting part of the job description, however, is near the bottom, where one of the desired qualities listed under ‘Nice to haves’ is “Experience helping maintain a live software product or game”.
Last week, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav indicated the company’s ambition to transform its biggest franchises to include “more always-on gameplay through live services, multiplatform and free-to-play extensions, with the goal to have more players spending more time on more platforms”.
Judging by the job listing above, it seems Monolith’s Wonder Woman game might well come under that live-service remit. Little is known about the game so far: all we have is a teaser trailer that was released in December 2021.
The upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League from Rocksteady will be a real test of Warner Bros.’ live-service ambitions. This multiplayer, always-online title sees players take on the roles of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark as they embark on a seemingly impossible mission to take down Superman et al.
More footage has been released of Suicide Squad this week through a behind the scenes video, which has revealed, among other things, that the game’s Metropolis will be twice the size of Gotham City in Rocksteady’s previous title, Batman: Arkham Knight. The game was originally set to release in 2022, but was delayed to early 2023, and then again to February 2024, meaning it will launch nearly nine years after Arkham Knight made its debut.
