Wonder Woman “Not Live Service”

Monolith has had a number of film-crossover projects throughout the years, and after most recently making a good Lord of the Rings tie-in and the money-grabbing one, they have good faith on their side. That’s not to say Tron 2.0, Gotham City Impostors, and Aliens Versus Predator 2 were great, but they have a long history with tie-in/crossover titles. Their latest project, post Middle Earth, is another Warner property, Wonder Woman. Announced in 2021, we’ve only seen the teaser that announced the thing, presumably at a Game Awards which has just made my editor shudder at the thought of covering that again.

Well, according to reports, there is a job listing on the Warner Bros. Discovery website for a lead software engineer to join Monolith. Sounds like normal business in the games industry, why am I covering it? Well, reportedly (according to Eurogamer and PC Gamer), it had a section saying it would be nice for the engineer to have experience with “live software product or game[s].” This of course sparked speculation that it would be another Marvel: Avengers situation where it is live service crap with a coat of paint in the Wonder Woman style.

IGN did a bit more digging and did what no one wants to do, write an email on a Friday. Warner Bros. responded to IGN stating, “Wonder Woman is a single-player action-adventure game set in a dynamic [open world]. This [third-person] experience will allow players to become Diana of Themyscira and introduce an original story set in the DC Universe, while also featuring the Nemesis System. Wonder Woman is not being designed as a live service.” So Middle-Earth: Shadow of Lynda Carter, by the sounds of it.

I’m sure many will be breathing a heavy sigh of relief knowing that it isn’t built with the online focus that other superhero titles have been of late. Though simply featuring the Nemesis System, being third person, and open world doesn’t mean it won’t necessarily be void of live service pieces. After all, we saw that with Shadow of War and its loot box controversies. The quote answered the question of it being single-player, but that doesn’t stop Warner from clawing every measly penny out of your pocket for other trappings of live-service models.

IGN once again quotes David Zaslav from the Warner earnings call earlier this month, where the CEO said, “[we are] transforming our biggest franchises from largely console and PC based with three-four year release schedules to include more always-on gameplay through live services, multiplatform, and free-to-play extensions, with the goal to have more players spending more time on more platforms.” The quote from the Warner spokesperson answered a question, though didn’t rule out other ways of generating a little bit more cash for Warner to not bother releasing Batgirl or the recently scrapped Coyote vs Acme after filming.