'Mortal Kombat 11' Has Microtransactions, But Only For Cosmetic Items

It looks like Mortal Kombat 11 will follow in the footsteps of Injustice 2 and feature no pay-to-win aspects, but will have microtransactions for cosmetic items that you'll be able to dump real money into. In other words, you can either play and grind to get a badass outfit for Kitana, or just slip NetherRealm Studios some virtual currency.

The news was revealed by NetherRealm Studios during today's Kombat Kast -- which also featured Kitana's reveal trailer -- via producer on the game, Shaun Himmerick. Accrording to Himmerick, there will be an in-game currency called "time crystals" that can be purchased with real money, which in turn will allow you to instantly purchase different cosmetic items, such as skins, gear, victory animations, intros, and easy fatalities. The latter being a consumable players can use that bypasses the inputs for fatalities. It just makes it easier to do fatalities.

Like with Injustice 2, there will be no option to buy anything that will make you have any type of advantage over a player who never dumps money into the game. You can't buy anything to make your fighter better in online play, but there are consumables and other items that you can use for offline modes.

And of course, you can earn every cosmetic in the game without putting any money into it. You just have to play the game. How much you'll need to play the game in order to achieve this, isn't clear, but that will presumably determine how fans feel about it all. If it's too grindy, I'm sure there will be backlash like there was with Injustice 2.

"Nothing in the game requires time crystals at all," said Himmerick. "You can play the whole game -- unlock all the stuff there -- without ever dealing with the time crystals. Or if you want, you can get time crystals and shortcut your way."

Mortal Kombat 11 is in development for PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch, and is poised to release on April 23 at a price-point of $59.99 USD. For more news, media, and information on the upcoming fighting game, click here.

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