The next entry in the Mortal Kombat series finally got its official unveiling earlier this week, with an announcement trailer that teased the story and a bunch of new details. It seems NetherRealm wants to go big for its latest entry, its first for the current gen, and it certainly has competition for biggest fighting game since its rivals are going big too.
As hype surges, the MortalKombat subreddit has been kicked into overdrive and past comments by NetherRealm's creative director Ed Boon have resurfaced now that we know the studio's next game is indeed Mortal Kombat. Back in December 2022, Boon invited people on Twitter to ask him stuff, and a fan inquired: "What was the reason MK11 ended earlier than anticipated?" Boon replied with information that tells us more about the next entry, which would be Mortal Kombat 12 if it wasn't for the change in numbering.
Boon replied that support for Mortal Kombat 11 was the longest NetherRealm had supported a game and that the "next game should be even longer". Now that we know this next game is Mortal Kombat 1, we can reasonably expect that DLC support for it should be as least as long as the previous game, if not longer.
Can MK1 finally see as long a support cycle as a Street Fighter/Tekken game?
by u/TipseyWes in MortalKombat
We know some of the DLC that NetherRealm has lined up for the game already, with details popping up on Amazon listings and on the Nintendo store. There are 12 pieces of DLC, with six characters confirmed, five Kameo characters confirmed, and one skin confirmed among them, while leaks have suggested Omni-Man and Ermac will also be DLC.
It's safe to say that plenty more will be coming further down the line. But it should be noted that while Boon may want to support his games for as long as possible, and as much as possible, these kinds of decisions aren't ultimately down to him alone with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment having final say.
But it seems Warner Bros. has allowed NetherRealm to go big for Mortal Kombat 1 as Boon revealed on a Twitch stream that the development period for the game has been longer than any other Mortal Kombat. It's the studio's biggest undertaking yet and the development time will "show" in the final product, according to the creative director.
The game will be competing with new entries from Capcom and Bandai Namco too, as the fighting genre heats up again for this current gen, with the launch of Street Fighter 6 coming on June 2. Meanwhile, development budget for Tekken 8 was expanded compared to the previous game, while the current gen exclusive could be released later this year or early 2024. Mortal Kombat 1 is scheduled to launch September 19 on PS5, PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch.