Warner Bros. tries a patent on Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor’s critically acclaimed Nemesis system, it came to the fore.
The revelation comes in the latest video through the amazing YouTube series Game Maker’s Toolkit, which analyzes how the Nemesis system works.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis system, developed by a number of staff in Kirkland, the studio Monolith Productions in Washington, follows the actions of the player in the game to create enemies who are apparently able to meet you remember, by ascending the ranks and taking revenge. As we wrote Christian Donlan in 2017 about the villain generator, “die to an orc and the orc you offer will get stronger and maybe get a promotion”.
“It allows a repetitive game to become a wonderfully enjoyable pastime: here a wavy kind of grind is presented as you alternate between learning, killing and dying – at which point the whole system leaps forward and becomes more complex in ways that requires more learning, more killing and more dying. “
The patent, which was originally re-filed in March 2016, is called “Nemesis Characters, Nemesis Forts, Social Vendors, and Fans in Computer Games,” and is now awarded to Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. reason to believe that the application will be granted.
According to the patent list, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a final rejection in November 2019. But Warner Bros. held on and in October 2020 a ‘Notice of Allowance’ was issued. This suggests that Warner was able to overcome the rejection, and the USPTO believes the invention qualifies for a patent.
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So it seems only a matter of time before Warner Bros. will get his Nemesis patent six years after he first applied for it. And if it does, it could return in some form in an upcoming Middle-earth game – or any Warner Bros. game for that matter. Batman? Harry Potter?
The unveiling of the Nemesis patent has certainly sparked a debate about the rights and injustices of Warner Bros.’s actions here. Observers are also wondering if Warner Bros.’s attempt to patent the Nemesis system is why we have not seen a similar system in other games. I have seen some insist that it would be impossible to have a patent on video games.
“If you take someone’s design and make a better version of it, you should get a trophy and a triumph through the streets, and the people who made the previous version should applaud you and say, ‘wow, that was it. really cool ”, Obsidian design director Josh Sawyer wrote Twitter.
if I ever try to legally protect a game mechanic, I hope I am executed via the Persian boats !!!
– Josh Sawyer (@jesawyer) 29 January 2021
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In fact, over the years, many developers and publishers have obtained patents for video game mechanics. BioWare, for example, has a patent for the Mass Effect dialog wheel. Sega once held a patent on the Crazy Taxi compass arrow, though it expired in 2018. Nintendo currently has a patent on the Eternal Darkness odometer.