After trying several times since 2015, WB Games has successfully obtained a patent on the nemesis system in use Shadow of Mordor and the sequel, Shadow of War. The patent comes into effect later this month.
As reported by IGN, on February 3, the US Patent and Trademark Office issued a issue notice confirms that WB Games’ patent on the system has been approved and will officially become effective on February 23, 2021.
(That link reporting the issue was not working at the time of publishing.)
The nemesis system first appeared in 2014’s open-world stab-athon Shadow of Mordor, and would be expanded massively in the rest of 2017 Shadow of War. The Nemesis System uses randomly generated orcs to populate the world. Players then attack these orcs, sometimes kill them, take control of them, or even lose them. As these events take place, the orcs will respond, become more powerful, acquire new abilities, and refer directly to previous experiences with the player. It’s a cool system. And soon, only one publisher, WB Games, will have the ability to use it.
Once the patent becomes active, other developers or publishers who want to use a Nemesis system will have to make a deal with WB Games or take legal action.
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Since 2015, shortly after the release of Shadow of Mordor, WB Games attempted to obtain this patent, but failed. Previous issues have included a lack of specificity, which is very important in a patent and runs counter to other existing patents.
WB Games will be able to keep this patent until 2035, assuming they keep all their orcs in order legally and financially.
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