After trying several times since 2015, WB Games has successfully obtained a patent on the nemesis system presented in The shadow of Mordor and its continuation, The shadow of war. The patent enters into force later this month.
As reported by IGN, on February 3, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office launched a issues an opinion confirming that the WB Games patent for the system has been approved and will become official on February 23, 2021.
(That issue notification link was not working at the time of publication.)
The nemesis system first appeared in 2014 in the opening of the open world The shadow of Mordor, and would be greatly expanded in 2017 The shadow of war. The Nemesis system uses randomly generated orcs to populate the world. Players attack these orcs, sometimes kill them, take control of them or even lose in front of them. As these events unfold, the orcs will react, becoming stronger, acquiring new abilities, and referring directly to past experiences with the player. It’s a cool system. And soon, only one publisher, WB Games, will be able to use it.
Once the patent becomes active, other developers or publishers wishing to use a Nemesis system will have to enter into an agreement with WB Games or take legal action.
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Since 2015, shortly after launch The shadow of Mordor, WB Games tried and failed to secure this patent. Previous issues included the lack of specificity, which is very important in a patent, and conflicts with other existing patents.
WB Games will have the ability to maintain this patent until 2035, assuming it keeps all its orcs in legal and financial order.
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