After several years of trying, Warner Bros has finally secured a patent for the Nemesis system featured in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War. The Nemesis system, essentially, procedurally generates a name, rank and personality traits for powerful enemies, and if any enemy managed to kill the player, that enemy would be promoted and given those characteristics. It was widely praised upon Shadow of Mordor's release for being an innovative system that allowed players to form a connection with relatively minor characters. Now, Warner Bros may be able to stop other developers from implementing a version of it in their games.

The move has proven controversial in the gaming community. Among a slew of negative comments regarding the patent, some prominent voices have spoken up as well. Mike Bithell, creator of Thomas Was Alone and John Wick Hex, Tweeted the following: "This is really gross, especially for a franchise that built its brilliant nemesis system on top of a whole heap of mechanics replicated from other games. As all games do. Because that's how culture and creativity works. Be a better neighbor, WB."

Critic Jim Sterling compared it to Namco Bandai's patent on gameplay during loading screens, also expressing concern about the way it can stifle the creative process: "[The patent] expired in 2015 but we still don't see games really do the idea. It's because a 17-year void of creativity happened and nothing was built upon," they said. "By the time the patent expired, the very idea was more or less a relic nobody bothered with because they'd never been allowed."

This isn't the first time a publisher has patented a gameplay mechanic. EA holds the patent on dialogue wheels as they look in the Mass Effect series, and Nintendo holds the patent on gameplay measuring a player's sanity (from Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem). Of course, there are examples of other games, such as the Amnesia series or Darkest Dungeon, factoring sanity loss into its gameplay with no legal trouble from Nintendo, so a patent doesn't necessarily mean no other developers can experiment with the idea. But it is an option for Warner Bros now if they so choose, and that's got people worried.

Source

 

[Silent_Gunner]

OK, if they can patent this, one could patent a controller design with a stick added to it that's meant to be controlled with your nether regions.

I mean, what's next? They gonna patent trading cards? Insulin variants? Wireless input methods with no latency? If anything Logitech should do that with their Lightspeed tech that they hype up for both their KBs and Mice!

 

[Chary]

WB is shady as all get out when it comes to Shadow of Mordor. Not only did they do this, but they allegedly paid quite a few critics off to rate the game well...despite the fact of it being a good game in the first place.

That being said, I really like the game. I don’t like this, but if they announced a third game, it wouldn’t stop me from getting it.

 

[FAST6191]

Boo software patents.

Boo things that have all the obviousness and prior art* in the world getting patented.

Patent for the bored (US 20160279522)
https://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2016/0279522.html


*going to have to go searching but pretty sure I played a roguelike that would bias a character to things designed to counter your particular strengths.

 

[The Frenchman]

Imagine if Namco had pattented Power Ups after Pac-Man...

Nintendo could have also stole the whole show in the 80's/90's...

 

[leon315]

Now immagine someone filed patent about 1st person shooter.

 

[Silent_Gunner]

WB is shady as all get out when it comes to Shadow of Mordor. Not only did they do this, but they allegedly paid quite a few critics off to rate the game well...despite the fact of it being a good game in the first place.

That being said, I really like the game. I don’t like this, but if they announced a third game, it wouldn’t stop me from getting it.

Didn't the sequel Shadow of War basically make it so that one had to use MTX to make any progress within a reasonable amount of time? I remember reading something about it on Steam reviews for the game iirc.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Now immagine someone filed patent about 1st person shooter.

Well, if it was John Carmack, I can't imagine he'd be all too controlling. Hell, maybe every FPS could be open source?

 

[Xzi]

Damn shame, so many games that a similar system would work well in. And WB will release maybe one game every four years with the nemesis system included.

*going to have to go searching but pretty sure I played a roguelike that would bias a character to things designed to counter your particular strengths.

Well I know Star Renegades has a very "nemesis-like" system in which even the final boss is replaced with a new one when you defeat it. Plays off the whole multiverse theory. Not sure if that's the one you're thinking of though.

 

[xdarkx]

If people don't see this is a problem, just imagine if other companies start patenting other game mechanics (ex. cover system, quicktime events, etc). This would mean only the companies that hold those patents can make games with those mechanics.

Not to mentioned, iirc the Nemesis system was inspire from other games' game mechanics (ie. WB didn't came up with it).

 

[osaka35]

It feels like these should fall under the "you can't legally own a recipe" rather than "this is a unique mechanism which we should be the only one to profit from". Since it's more of a mix and match of other people's works, it seems odd they can do that.

 

[Xzi]

It feels like these should fall under the "you can't legally own a recipe" rather than "this is a unique mechanism which we should be the only one to profit from". Since it's more of a mix and match of other people's works, it seems odd they can do that.

Yeah it definitely feels like we're in uncharted territory now. Can I patent climbing to the top of tall buildings/landmarks to activate surveillance towers or beacons in open-world games? Because I'm pretty sure that would put Ubisoft out of business.

 

[raxadian]

I will say it again, patent law in the USA is insane.

 

[eyeliner]

Well, I guess that after the adage of "you can't patent game mechanics" being left on the wayside, anything is now possible in video-games.
You get in prison for modding games and systems in Japan
You have game mechanics patented in the US
Let's hope the EU gets something as stupid.

I don't want to be part of a continent that is not dumb.

 

[xdarkx]

One game mechanic I don't mind a single company would patent would be loot boxes that can be obtained using real money directly or indirectly since this may dissuade other companies from including them in their games.

 

[Kwyjor]

OK, if they can patent this, one could patent a controller design with a stick added to it that's meant to be controlled with your nether regions.

You think people haven't? I'm not about to go searching for it, but it has surely been done.

I mean, what's next? They gonna patent trading cards? Insulin variants? Wireless input methods with no latency? If anything Logitech should do that with their Lightspeed tech that they hype up for both their KBs and Mice!

I'm not sure if you're being serious..? The technical details escape me, but insulin patents are making a lot of people's lives miserable at the moment. And Logitech almost certainly has many patents.

Boo things that have all the obviousness and prior art* in the world getting patented.

Patent for the bored (US 20160279522)
https://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2016/0279522.html

For the terminally bored:
-Go to https://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair
-Select "Publication number" and type in 20160279522
-Click the "Image File Wrapper" tab
-Look at the items named "Final Rejection" and "Non-Final Rejection"

If people don't see this is a problem, just imagine if other companies start patenting other game mechanics (ex. cover system, quicktime events, etc). This would mean only the companies that hold those patents can make games with those mechanics.

As noted in the OP, this is not a new thing. Consider Sega's Crazy Taxi patent:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Taxi#Legalities

ETA: Much less well-known is their Comix Zone patent, for "a comic book simulation which captures the essential features of the comic book medium", filed way back in 1994.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US6010405A/

It feels like these should fall under the "you can't legally own a recipe" rather than "this is a unique mechanism which we should be the only one to profit from".

What gave you the idea that you can't legally own a recipe? You can totally get a patent on a recipe. The problems are that 1) You have to let everyone know your recipe in sufficient detail that they can reproduce it, and 2) After twenty years everyone will be able to do whatever they want with it. (And of course the recipe has to be completely new and non-obvious.)

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

Im Going to patent making bad games so WB will have to pay me royalties for every game they make

 

[diggeloid]

Wow. I'm a huge Tolkien fan, and was so happy that the Shadow of Mordor games were actually really damn good and not just a lazy cash grab. Now, I'll never buy anything from WB again.

MAYBE this is just a ploy to force the Middle-Earth Enterprises (which owns the rights to The Lord of the Rings) to continue licensing the IP to WB if they want to keep making Shadow of Mordor games, instead of taking it to another developer and dumping WB. IF that's the case, then maybe they have no intention of using the patent to stomp out other developers making non-LOTR games with a nemesis mechanic, and this isn't as blatantly evil and disgusting as it initially seems.

Regardless, I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt. Next time they release a Shadow of Mordor game, they're not getting my money.

 

[Kwyjor]

was so happy that the Shadow of Mordor games were actually really damn good and not just a lazy cash grab.

Did you somehow miss the torrents of fury about all the microtransactions in the sequel? (They were eventually removed.)

 

[SG854]

A company should patent Jumping onto Platforms

 

[NNate]

The game is a few years old now. Doesn't seem like that idea really caught on elsewhere in the meantime.

The whole thing is ridiculous, but at least it shouldn't bite anyone immediately. Stuff like this really prevents taking an idea to the next level. That's the crappy part