It appears that WB Games has finally secured a patent for the “nemesis system” featured in Shadow of Mordor and its sequel, Shadow of War, as reported by IGN. WB Games has been trying multiple times since 2015 to get an approval, and finally they have been successful in securing a patent for the franchise’s signature Nemesis System.
The patent will go into effect later this month, and on February 3 the US Patent and Trademark Office released an issue notice confirming that WB Games’ patent on the game’s nemesis system was approved.
The patent is going to become officially effective starting February 23, 2021. But do make a note that the “issue notice” link is currently not working at this time of writing.
The patent filing reads, “Nemesis characters, nemesis forts, social vendettas and followers in computer games”.
As you may already know the nemesis system first appeared in 2014’s Shadow of Mordor game, and the 2017 sequel Shadow of War also featured and expanded the same nemesis system. The Nemesis System uses randomly generated orcs/NPCs to populate the game world.
As IGN explains the patent filing, the “short version is that the patent covers a system featuring procedurally-generated NPCs that exist in a hierarchy and interact with and will remember the actions of players, have their appearance/behavior altered by players, and whose place in that hierarchy can change and affect the position of other NPCs in said hierarchy (and yes, that’s the simplified version).”
What this basically means is as players attack these orcs, and as these events unfold, the orcs will react accordingly, becoming more powerful, while gaining new abilities at the same time. The NPCs/orcs will remember the actions of the player, and their behavior is also going to change accordingly. The hierarchy will also change and will have a direct effect on other NPCs in the same hierarchy.
The patent also covers the Social Conquest battles from Shadow of War, in which players are able to invade other players’ fortresses and attempt to conquer them. This mode has two settings: friendly and ranked.
Lastly, WB Games will be able to maintain this patent until 2035. Since 2015 the patent was revised and rejected on several occasions, citing too many similarities to other patents, like the ones held by Square Enix, the mobile game QONQR, and even Webkinz.
There were conflicts with other existing patents before. However, as IGN reported, some of the most recent rejections were more focused on the “specificity” of language.
Stay tuned for more!
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This is very bad news. This completely kills any sort of creativity other devs can leverage to give us cool twists and iterations on this system. This sets a very very bad precedent if others decide to follow
how on earth is this legal well f*f*fu*f*ck Wb
Scummy companies doing scummy doings. Shocker.
Ok so they got the patent. The question is when are we getting a new shadow of…… or something completely new????
Are there any news or at least rumors regarding the next Middle-Earth game?
Watch them monetize this feature further as paid extra in their games. Capcom is already pay-walling their hardest difficulty in RE 8.
If it’s anything like Resident Evil 7’s
Madhouse difficulty which was only accessible to players of the regular release of the game upon completion of either Easy or Normal difficulty, but available right away for owners of some premium edition (pre-order or something along those lines), then I can at least rest assured I’ll be able to access that difficulty level even without paying an extra for it.
Also, Resident Evil 7’s Madhouse difficulty mixes things up a bit — literally, because enemy and item placement is not the same as those in Easy and Normal difficulty. It’s a nice touch, and feels good to experience the contrast, which you can only appreciate if you’ve played the Easy/Normal difficulty at first.
RE8 hardest difficulty isn’t pay-walled. If you buy the Deluxe Edition it is unlocked right away, or if you just buy the normal edition you can unlock it by simple completing the game.
There is no confirmation that this is the case. Basing it purely on the previous title is speculation.
this is an absurd thing to copyright. It just a way to hold games back. People should boycott the next Warner brothers game. This could affect gaming in the future
WB Games aka Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is part of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc is a subsidiary of WarnerMedia.
WarnerMedia is owned by AT&T.
AT&T owns SJW-infested companies including CNN and DC Comics… while also reportedly having been the single largest donator to the Republican Party during the Trump administration.
I suppose it’s funny in a way because the clowns at CNN and DC Comics ultimately worked for Trump’s largest financial supporter, lol.
No surprise there. Polarized society is the most profitable.
Yet literally stole everything else from the Assassin’s Creed series. Whole gameplay aspect and how the story is being told
#makepiracygreatagain
Never even noticed that their precious system. All orcs are same target for me
doesnt make sense. imagine patenting first person view or something like that. also, it seems awfully specific, very few games will even want such a system so its just odd but yea very bad precedent