Warner Bros. has confirmed what Mortal Kombat 1 followers feared after the latest launch of the Definitive Version: no new DLC characters or story chapters will likely be launched for the sport.
Mortal Kombat 1 has offered 5 million copies, with the franchise now as much as 100 million. Mortal Kombat 11 grew to become the best-selling recreation within the franchise by passing Mortal Kombat X’s practically 11 million items offered worldwide quickly after launch. By 2022, Mortal Kombat 11 had offered greater than 15 million copies worldwide. Clearly, Mortal Kombat 1 has underperformed in comparison with earlier video games within the sequence.
In a tweet on the official Mortal Kombat social media account, Warner Bros. acknowledged the frustration the information will trigger gamers, “however our group at NetherRealm must shift focus to the subsequent venture in an effort to make it as nice as we presumably can.”
Warner Bros. did not say what this new venture is, however present hypothesis factors to Injustice 3, a continuation of NetherRealm’s DC combating recreation sequence.
Right here’s the assertion in full:
We’re listening to gamers’ requests for continued recreation assist of Mortal Kombat 1, and, whereas we are going to proceed to assist Mortal Kombat 1 by steadiness changes and fixes, there won’t be further DLC characters or story chapters launched from this level on.
We perceive this will likely be disappointing for followers, however our group at NetherRealm must shift focus to the subsequent venture in an effort to make it as nice as we presumably can.
March 2025’s launch of the T-1000 visitor character, which got here a year-and-a-half after the discharge of Mortal Kombat 1 itself, now goes down as the sport’s ultimate main content material drop. For context, in July 2021, NetherRealm introduced it had began work on its subsequent venture (Mortal Kombat 1) and, in consequence, there can be no additional DLC for Mortal Kombat 11. That announcement got here two years and three months after the discharge of the sport. At present’s announcement comes one yr and eight months after the discharge of Mortal Kombat 1.
Gamers are already citing prior feedback from NetherRealm growth chief Ed Boon, who had promised followers years of assist. Certainly, many are actually pointing to a September 2024 tweet from Boon, who on the time moved to reassure followers already involved that the studio had moved onto its subsequent recreation by saying: “NetherRealm remains to be totally dedicated to supporting Mortal Kombat 1 for a very long time to come back.”
Mortal Kombat 1 loved one thing of a resurgence in January with the key struggle with Floyd, the pink ninja developer Boon had been teasing for years. That sparked a enjoyable community-wide effort that breathed new life into the sport. However that was a uncommon shiny spot for what has, total, been a disappointing launch for a lot of core Mortal Kombat followers.
What now for Mortal Kombat? Guardian firm Warner Bros. Discovery has indicated that it nonetheless believes the gory combating recreation franchise has a future. In November, CEO David Zaslav mentioned that on the video games aspect of issues, the corporate plans to double down on simply 4 titles, one among which was Mortal Kombat. Film adaptation Mortal Kombat 2 is due out later this yr.
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You may attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
