Turns out you have corporate greed to thank for the existence of Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis system
1 min read
Summary
Gaming review site Rock Paper Shotgun recently reviewed Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, giving it a 7/10 rating, praising the game’s Nemesis system which remembers players’ actions and builds accordingly.
However, the site’s article also points out that a former Warner Brothers executive stated that the Nemesis system was conceived as a way to deter players from trading in their copies of the game, thereby undermining the second-hand games market.
Laura Fryer, commenting on a YouTube vidcast, explains that the reason for the lack of financial compensation to WB and developers Rocksteady was that players would finish the game then trade it in, meaning the developer only earned revenue from the initial sale of the first copy.
Fryer states that the decision was therefore taken for Monolith to develop a system within the game that would encourage players to keep their copy, resulting in the Nemesis system.
Frustratingly, given the unusual creativity of the Nemesis system, it is patented until 2036, meaning no other developers will be implementing such a system in their games any time soon.
