this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
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Ex-Warner Bros. Exec Reveals the Real Reason Shadow of Mordor's Much-Loved Nemesis System Was Created (www.ign.com)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by misk@sopuli.xyz to c/games@sh.itjust.works
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Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is remembered for many reasons, but perhaps best of all for its Nemesis system, an incredible mechanic for generating memorable Orc encounters. According to a former executive, the Nemesis system came about from trying to solve a different problem: secondhand sales.

In a new video, Laura Fryer — former vice president of WB Games who oversaw the publisher's Seattle studios at the time — talked about her time with Monolith. While discussing the way trend-chasing affects the industry, Fryer mentioned that chasing trends is what "literally led to the Nemesis system."

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[–] eRac@lemmings.world 37 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Summary: They were seeing a disconnect between Arkham Asylum player stats and sales, indicating a large portion of the playerbase blasting through the game then selling it back to retailers. WB studios were directed to explore ways to lengthen player engagement, preferably enough to keep the game forever.

The nemesis system gives some light procedural flair to an otherwise-deaigned experience. I don't think it did what they hoped it would, but it was still a great mechanic.

[–] Prox@lemmy.world 38 points 3 days ago

This sounds to me like the right way to combat secondhand sales. Rather than making the game shitty and/or locking features behind online-only, unlock-keyed connections, they added a content mechanic that was actually fun.

I mean, this is basically the entire premise behind roguelike games, just applied to an action RPG instead (in a small way).

[–] Artyom@lemm.ee 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Those analysts are idiots. Arkham Asylum is like a 10 hr game, and once you collect all the riddler trophies, which takes maybe another 2 hours, thr only thing left to play is the endless ground "how high can your combo go" fights. Of course people put it down after they finish the main story, the game is completely spent.

[–] redhorsejacket@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Which part of that makes the analysts idiots? Sounds like their analysis was spot on.