Warner Bros. has confirmed that it is closing Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor studio Monolith Productions and canceling its Wonder Woman project. The company has also shut down MultiVersus developer Player First Games and mobile studio WB San Diego.
The details:
Originally reported by Bloomberg's Jason Scherier, Warner Bros. has issued a statement to Kotaku's Ethan Gach confirming that the three studios have closed as part of a "strategic change in direction." The company says it is now focusing on "building the best games possible" centered around its core IPs like Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, and DC in order to make its games business profitable and grow throughout the year.
With Monolith's closure, the studio's Wonder Woman game was also scrapped. The game was announced in late 2021 and was intended to be an open-world action-adventure title, with Warner Bros. stating that it would not include live-service features. It was also planned to include the patented "Nemesis" system developed for Monolith's Middle-earth games, which is still legally protected until 2036.
Warner Bros.' gaming division has struggled in recent years. Last month, it was announced that MultiVersus would be shutting down, and Bloomberg reported that Wonder Woman's development had been rebooted last year and was still years away. This contributed to a rough financial period for the company following the commercial failure of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which left its games division as the "weak link" in its revenue streams.
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