It’s hard to know where to start sometimes when it comes to the decisions being made by Warner Bros. Discovery. This is a company that was willing to scrap a fully completed “Batgirl” film for the sake of a tax write-off but also let an absolutely disastrous game get released in the form of “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.” The latter of these is especially worth talking about now because it was an indication of how out of touch Warner Bros. games division was with reality.
That situation has not improved as the years of work put into an upcoming “Wonder Woman” game has just been completely scrapped, along with the studio developing it. Thanks to author Gail Simone, we have a bit more of an idea of what the world will never receive.
Simone is a prolific comic book writer whose work includes stints with “Birds of Prey,” “Batgirl,” “The Simpsons,” “Red Sonja,” “Deadpool,” “Wonder Woman,” and more. It would make sense then that if anyone should act as a consultant for a Wonder Woman video game, Simone would be more than qualified. The game was announced back in 2021 at the Video Game Awards. There was no footage revealed at the time, but it was revealed as being developed by Monolith Productions. This is the same company that released the very well received “Lord of the Rings” duology “Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor” and “Middle-earth: Shadow of War.”
Then, on February 25th, Warner Bros. Games division announced they were pulling the plug on the game and shutting down Monolith Productions along with Player First Games and Warner Bros. Games San Diego. We already knew Player First Games could be on the chopping block since the parent company already announced they were ending support of the “MultiVersus” fighting game that Player First had developed. “Wonder Woman” though? That was a surprise.
“The game was gorgeous and expansive. It was beautiful to look at,” Simone revealed. “I am not going to give details for a number of reasons, but every effort was made to make this not just a great game, but a great WONDER WOMAN game. A showpiece epic.”
She then takes the opportunity to give credit to the team that was working on the title, praising them for their efforts and the dedication they had to the Wonder Woman and overall DC lore. But, as she reminds people, sometimes even the best of your efforts don’t always play out.
As Simone points out, there’s a lot of finger-pointing happening but considering the entirety of Monolith Productions was shut down along with other divisions of Warner Bros. Games, it’s pretty clear this decision game from well above anybody who was directly working on the title. Again, this is the company that killed “Batgirl.” From a gaming standpoint, it’s even more frustrating since gamers have been rallying against live-service games like “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League” and wanting robust, single-player adventures. If this is what “Wonder Woman” was on track to be, they killed off something that easily could’ve worked out, especially considering Monolith Productions past success.
Our hearts go out to the people affected by the closure of all three studios mentioned and like Simone, we echo the sentiment of hoping the employees are scooped up elsewhere. As for Wonder Woman, the character still deserves her own game. She’s effectively the first lady of comic books and it’s a shame that she’s not being utilized to all the potential she has. And if you actually have played “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League” enough, then you know how much more ironic it is that Warner Bros. killed this game.
