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Canceled Wonder Woman game was ‘gorgeous and expansive’, says comic writer who consulted on it | VGC

Wonder Woman comic book writer shares details of working on recently axed game…

www.videogameschronicle.com

A long-term consultant on Warner’s recently canceled Wonder Woman game has shared some details about what the title might have offered had it seen the light of day.

Announced in 2021 but reportedly still years away from release after being rebooted in 2024, the game had been in development at Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War studio Monolith Productions.

However, on Tuesday, parent company Warner Bros. announced that it was closing Monolith alongside two other internal studios, Player First Games and WB San Diego, and scrapping Wonder Woman.

Reacting to the news in a thread on X, veteran comic book writer Gail Simone, who has penned many issues of Wonder Woman and served as a “long-term” consultant on the canceled title, said “the game was gorgeous and expansive.”

She wrote: “It was beautiful to look at. 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.

“And all of that was because of the team. Everyone who worked on it brought their a-game. Programmers, artists, designers, everyone. I don’t know that I have ever worked with a team that cared more about making sure the end product was perfect.”

Our hope was to give players and fans the highest quality experience possible for the iconic character, and unfortunately this is no longer possible within our strategic priorities,” the publisher said.

Simone added on X: “I know there’s a lot of finger-pointing going on, but everyone I worked with from Monolith and WB both was enthusiastic and supportive. Everyone wanted to make the best game ever.

“Sometimes, you give your all and it doesn’t work out.”

 

[CLW]

 

[Chuck Berry]

 

[LectureMaster]

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.

 

[Jesb]

Nobody cares about a dead body even if it has makeup.

 

[winjer]

 

[ProtoByte]

Gail Simone is one of the worst things to happen to comics. She might be the OG Anita Sarkeesian, actually. No different than the latter consulting for BioWare or Naughty Dog, it's that bad.

 

[MiguelItUp]

When a game is cancelled, nothing matters. It always annoys me when folks come out talking about how amazing and/or revolutionary it was. I mean, that may be true to a degree, but the fact that it died says much more than anything else, lol.

 

[Kacho]

Following her Marvel work, Simone began working for DC, where she is most known for her much-beloved run on BIRDS OF PREY. She has continued to write for DC and its many imprints on titles that include ROSE AND THORN, ACTION COMICS, TEEN TITANS, THE LEGION, VILLAINS UNITED, JLA CLASSIFIED, THE ALL-NEW ATOM, GEN13 and WELCOME TO TRANQUILITY. Her most recent projects include BATGIRL and THE MOVEMENT.

 

[CliffBronger]

So in other words this game was going to be ..

Wonder Woke

 

[SEGAvangelist]

 

[SlimySnake]

lol no one cancels games that look amazing.

 

[DeepEnigma]

 

[RagnarokIV]

It was wank, wasn’t it?

 

[UnrealEck]

I'm not a big fan of super hero stuff like Marvel etc. I did like the Arkham games though.
But does anyone actually want to play as Wonder Woman? She seems boring as hell.

 

[Embearded]

Meh....

I don't believe there is a market for a high budget WW game

 

[Zarak]

Hahahahahahahaaha yupppppers.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

Were you expecting her to say it was ugly, and shallow?

 

[cireza]

All the best games are always the ones that get cancelled !

cries_in_concord.gif

 

[MiguelItUp]

I'm not a big fan of super hero stuff like Marvel etc. I did like the Arkham games though.
But does anyone actually want to play as Wonder Woman? She seems boring as hell.

That's the thing I always said, I mean, I know the movies did pretty well. But I think her as a character doesn't really have a gigantic fanbase or anything. Especially compared to something in the Batman universe. The Nemesis System was carrying the excitement people had for it as far as I know, but even then, it wasn't super hyped.

 

[Generic]

Shame, Batman will be the only DC property with games for the next 50 years.

 

[xrnzaaas]

uh oh

 

[Chuck Berry]

Shame, Batman will be the only DC property with games for the next 50 years.

Shame no one trusts the people now making them

 

[Doom85]

Gail Simone is one of the worst things to happen to comics. She might be the OG Anita Sarkeesian, actually. No different than the latter consulting for BioWare or Naughty Dog, it's that bad.

Her runs on Wonder Woman, Villains United/Secret Six, Birds of Prey, and Deadpool are solid, the hell you talking about?

Comparing her to Anita, Geezus fucking Christ. I’m sorry, (lays down a notebook), maybe you could elaborate what exactly women are “allowed” to criticize when it comes to writing? Because I’m pretty sure her pointing out that a GREEN LANTERN issue where Kyle Rayner finds a villain has murdered his girlfriend and stuffed her corpse in his fridge, you know, is kind of edgelord dogshit and that maybe constantly murdering off supporting characters, mostly women, in a shocking manner to “motivate” the hero was getting overused and highly cliched. Gwen Stacy was effective……and then every other writer tried to replicate it and it became stale fast.

She also supports fanservice (though for both female and male characters) and has plenty of runs that utilize it, so that makes your Anita comparison especially ridiculous.

Next you’ll be calling Amanda Conner a FemNazi or some shit.

 

[Brakum]

I'm not a big fan of super hero stuff like Marvel etc. I did like the Arkham games though.
But does anyone actually want to play as Wonder Woman? She seems boring as hell.

Sure, they could do a god of war like game, i'd be more interested in a wonder woman gow like than i am in gow.

 

[March Climber]

The stories that will come out about this game will make this gaming’s version of Coyote vs Acme.

That one was still painful.

 

[Chuck Berry]

uh oh

Pie in the sky, but what if WB noticed the pendulum swinging and recent bombings and failures of these recent AAA's and saw the writing on the wall

Just that blurb is all I need to know that this was a game where I was going to be fucking lectured to.

All these once great studios, man. It really fuckin sucks.

 

[SpiceRacz]

 

[captainnapalm]

The lead writer of the Wonder Woman game was someone named Tanya DePass, games journalist for Polygon/VICE, Diversity Coordinator for GaymerX and Founder of "I Need Diverse Games".

I don't think we missed anything here.

As for Gail Simone, she's just another ultra liberal dimwit who lost her mind in 2016 and never recovered, like the overwhelming majority of comic pros.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Meh....

I don't believe there is a market for a high budget, non-erotic WW game

FTFY

 

[{insert code here}]

uh oh

The arrogance these people have. This is definitely peeps from my generation at work here. So many people my age have extremely overinflated opinions of themselves.

[Millennials].

 

[intbal]

High praise from Gail Simone pretty much guarantees this was going to be the worst game of the century.

 

[saintjules]

Rare delicacy of John Candy back to back

 

[Barakov]

 

[Xtib81]

Yeah, yeah we know the story. The team was full of incredibly talented and passionnate people yada yada.

 

[Saber]

uh oh

The world definitivelly needed that story they were writting. Thats why it got cancelled, because the world need it.

 

[amigastar]

Actually i would love to see the game in action. Maybe it was good.

 

[TheAtomicPile]

Not familiar with most of that, but I remember liking her Wonder Woman run from 2007.

They definitely could have done worse in hiring a comic writer to work on the game.

 

[Skifi28]

Yes, yes, all canceled games were always the bestest ever.

 

[Zacfoldor]

Wonder Woman was gonna have a man jaw in it and be unfuckable.

That is the reason it was cancelled.

 

[March Climber]

lol no one cancels games that look amazing.

 

[awwr999999]

When a game is cancelled, nothing matters. It always annoys me when folks come out talking about how amazing and/or revolutionary it was. I mean, that may be true to a degree, but the fact that it died says much more than anything else, lol.

Looking at the bad games that get made it's hard to Imagine how genuinely bad cancelled games must have to be.
Were it up to me I'd have cancelled something like 75% of Ubisoft's games.
Anyone here more familiar with the process or what goes into determining that a game's bad enough to shelve?

 

[Last Hearth]

Her runs on Wonder Woman, Villains United/Secret Six, Birds of Prey, and Deadpool are solid, the hell you talking about?

Comparing her to Anita, Geezus fucking Christ. I’m sorry, (lays down a notebook), maybe you could elaborate what exactly women are “allowed” to criticize when it comes to writing? Because I’m pretty sure her pointing out that a GREEN LANTERN issue where Kyle Rayner finds a villain has murdered his girlfriend and stuffed her corpse in his fridge, you know, is kind of edgelord dogshit and that maybe constantly murdering off supporting characters, mostly women, in a shocking manner to “motivate” the hero was getting overused and highly cliched. Gwen Stacy was effective……and then every other writer tried to replicate it and it became stale fast.

She also supports fanservice (though for both female and male characters) and has plenty of runs that utilize it, so that makes your Anita comparison especially ridiculous.

Next you’ll be calling Amanda Conner a FemNazi or some shit.

If you follow her career as a comic fan, you’d know her earlier stuff was normal, she became more and more unhinged as time went on, at the end she was part of a very radical clique!in the industry.

 

[CrustyBritches]

I’d like to see game and get a look at Diana’s thighs. They probably botched them so they had to cancel it.

 

[Madflavor]

lol no one cancels games that look amazing.

Konami.

 

[kiphalfton]

Gail Simone is one of the worst things to happen to comics. She might be the OG Anita Sarkeesian, actually. No different than the latter consulting for BioWare or Naughty Dog, it's that bad.

Sounds about right.

 

[Mr Moose]

Announced in 2021 but reportedly still years away from release after being rebooted in 2024

I can see why it was cancelled.

 

[Fake]

Source: Trust me.

 

[Braag]

Yeeeah... Sounds like the usual suspects were all over this game and the themes would have put most players off.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

The only thing we will miss about this game is the daily CCU count, fake sales reports, and media drama.