The sudden closure of Monolith Productions and the cancelation of its Wonder Woman game has left many scratching their heads. Could it really have been that far off from releasing? Was it really going to cost that much to take it the rest of the way over the finish line? Answers to those questions may come in time, but some of those who worked on the game said it was shaping up to be something special.
“The game was gorgeous and expansive,” comic book writer Gail Simone recently wrote of the unreleased action-adventure game first announced back in 2021. “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.”
Simone is best known for her past runs on DC Comics Secret Six, Birds of Prey, Batgirl, and of course, Wonder Woman. She’s currently writing the latest Uncanny X-Men reboot and says she was doing long-term consulting on Monolith’s game, a dream come true in part because of how much she loved the studio’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor games known for their groundbreaking nemesis system.
“Everyone who worked on it brought their a-game,” Simone continued. She said the team was also dedicated to making sure Wonder Woman was lore accurate in every way. “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.”
One of the game’s developers was similarly optimistic in the Monolith Discord. “Don’t listen to anything anyone’s said about the project stalling or failing,” they wrote. “It was going to be absolutely killer.” Bloomberg reported that the project underwent a reboot early last year, switched directors, and may have still be years away from shipping despite already costing $100 million.
“I know every dev will say this about something they worked on, but it was going to be amazing,” the developer told Monolith fans. “I am not allowed to say much but I can at least say that every single person was pouring their heart into it and it showed. Our narrative team had a fantastic and deeply meaningful story. Especially in these really difficult times, I felt the world really needed the story we were telling.”
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