A recent Monolith Productions job listing has fans speculating whether its upcoming Wonder Woman game will contain live service elements, especially since the lead software engineer of gameplay position values a candidate with experience in “helping maintain a live software product or game”.
For context, live service elements in games aim to engage players long-term, enticing them to spend on in-game items like outfits, weapons, and bonuses. However, many players often have a love-hate relationship with the service, feeling that live service elements are more for parting them from their real-world cash than enhancing the gameplay experience.
While coming to the conclusion that the Wonder Woman game will definitely include live service elements purely from a job listing is a stretch, Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav’s comment during an 8 November earnings call makes it harder to see this as purely a coincidence.
“Our focus is on transforming our biggest franchises from largely console and PC based with three-four year release schedules to include more always on gameplay through live services, multiplatform and free-to-play extensions with the goal to have more players spending more time on more platforms,” he said. “Ultimately we want to drive engagement and monetization of longer cycles and at higher levels.”
Fellow DC title Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is fronting this approach, though it gained less than savoury reactions from fans after it was revealed that the game, initially perceived as a narrative-focused (allowing up to four-player co-op), turned out to be a live-service title that mandates a continuous online connection.
While Wonder Woman is teased to be a single-player adventure set in an expansive world, with an original storyline where players take on the role of Wonder Woman as she strives to unite her Amazon kin and the humans from the modern world, nothing is set in stone till the fat lady sings.
Sasha has been a lover of all things geek since before she could read, having driven her mother up the wall in providing geek material as fast as her daughter could get through them. While Fantasy has been her greatest love, Sasha won’t say no to anything Horror, Action-Packed, or Sci-Fi!
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