As EA Kills Gaming’s Shot at the Next Stage of a Much-Loved Mechanic is Lost

Electronic Arts, a company that made over $4 billion from its extra content sales (in-game microtransactions) last year, has closed the studio that was working on a single-player superhero game. Cliffhanger Games was established as a new triple-A development studio a few years ago and have been working on the game in collaboration with Marvel Games for nearly four years.
Now, following EA killing both the game project and the studio, details have been revealed to the press showcasing the scope and inner workings of what promised to be an “expansive and reactive world that empowers players” to take on the throne of Wakanda. The phrasing that stood out among all of the mechanics being worked into the game was their take on the much-loved Nemesis System.

Bringing Back the Lost Nemesis System

According to the report on EA and its realignment by Bloomberg, the company is switching its focus to titles like Battlefield, Skate, and its mobile games – as well as, presumably, its sports games. A company representative also said recently that at least three more Marvel games would be made. Yet, this one was canceled. Apparently, it came after the game had passed the executive’s review stage.

Some say it was due to the slow progress of the game being made by a brand-new studio that was only recently given the green light to scale up. Founded in 2021 by developers of Monolith Productions – the team behind the much-praised Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor duology – they sought to implement an enhanced version of their famed Nemesis System from those games in the now-canceled game.

In February 2025, TechRadar declared that WB had not only closed the studio behind the Shadow of Mordor games, but also canceled its Wonder Woman game. In doing so, the studio retains the patent to the Nemesis System until 2036. For EA to close a game looking to revive the mechanic just a few months later certainly wasn’t a great look, especially as it’d reportedly be the basis of uncovering Skrulls and the battle for the throne between the playable T’Challa, Shuri, and Killmonger.

The Need for More Mechanic Sharing

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/aIj3JR0nZAM?si=tqU-iFw-vZ-Z8-JC” title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe>

This one-two punch to the Nemesis System only shines a light on how elements of the gaming industry can run completely anti to what players want. In other further-flung corners of gaming, if a mechanic is a hit, several other developers will pile into the mix. You can look to just about any of the WV online casinos on BonusFinder with no-deposit bonuses to see them all scrapping over popular game mechanics and the bonuses themselves.

No-deposit bonuses have become popular, so they all try to compete with better offers that don’t require a real money commitment first. On the platforms, players will also notice an abundance of Fishin’ and Big Bass games. This is because the fishing feature invented by Fishin’ Frenzy and popularised by Big Bass Bonanza is a huge hit, so all kinds of developers dove in with their take on the key mechanic.

We do still see this mechanic mimicking in modern gaming, but there are clearly still gaps in the process that have allowed the likes of the Nemesis System to be locked away. After all, the rather pertinent mention here of Ultimate Team and its many copycats is a prime example of such a mechanic going mad. We can also still see the likes of the counter and combo system introduced in 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum impact today.
Still, it’s this particularly engaging fan-favourite mechanic that’s now locked away for the better part of a decade, it seems. WB could’ve shouldered all of the scorn, but now EA shares in the blame.