Mortal Kombat fans have found themselves quite upset today in the wake of support for Mortal Kombat 1 suddenly coming to an end. NetherRealm Studios and WB Games announced Mortal Kombat 1: Definitive Edition this morning, which is meant to be a new, content-complete version of the fighting game. Although Definitive Edition isn’t guaranteed to be the end of MK1, its mere existence is more or less a confirmation that NetherRealm is done adding new fighters, stages, and other content as DLC. And while many might be sad about this news, many more are angry as they feel like NetherRealm didn’t make good on previous promises that were made with MK1.
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On the official Mortal Kombat Reddit page, a number of MK1 players pointed back to comments made by director Ed Boon prior to the game ever releasing. At the time, Boon said that MK1 would end up receiving more post-launch content than Mortal Kombat 11 did. Instead, less than two years later, work on MK1 has now wrapped up, which means that Boon and those at NetherRealm will end up running back this previous claim.
The reason for this decision is one that isn’t shocking, though, given Mortal Kombat 1 hasn’t performed as well commercially when compared to the previous two Mortal Kombat games. As a result, many know why this decision to call it quits with MK1 is happening, even though it stands opposed to the previous plans for the game.
“Don’t know why anyone is surprised,” said u/Green-Cheetah-4268. “The game had nowhere near as [much] an impact compared to MKX or MK11. Plus, it’s published by WB, and if they’re record of shutting down support for games in the past three years doesn’t speak for itself, then I don’t know what does.”
Others went on to defend NetherRealm for what has happened with Mortal Kombat 1, saying the blame instead lies with the publisher, WB Games. Rather than allow NetherRealm to do something else in the wake of releasing Mortal Kombat 11 (such as Injustice 3), the studio instead opted to create back-to-back Mortal Kombat games. This plan is one that seems to have backfired, which resulted in less interest for MK1 out of the gate.
“A lot happens in two years. [NetherRealm] had plans to support it more, but WB has been hemorrhaging money,” wrote u/GrimmTrixX. “These plans were made before WB closed down almost all of its gaming-related departments. […] This is what WB gets for forcing NetherRealm Studios to make back-to-back Mortal Kombat games.”
Related: Mortal Kombat 1 Is Finally Great. It Shouldn’t Die Now.
Moving forward, NetherRealm will surely continue to support Mortal Kombat 1 when it comes to new updates. These patches almost certainly won’t bring any major overhauls to the game, though, and will instead just help keep MK1 balanced for those who continue to play it.
Further down the line, Boon confirmed to ComicBook in 2024 that NetherRealm’s next game has already been in the works in some capacity for three years. Work on this project will undoubtedly now ramp up as MK1 begins to fade into the background.
