Many expected NetherRealm Studios to release Injustice 3 this year based on the Chicago-based studio’s history of releasing games every two years, ping ponging back and forth between Mortal Kombat and Injustice. This didn’t happen. In fact, we still don’t even know what the studio is working on, though rumors suggest it’s not Injustice 3, but Mortal Kombat 12. And according to a new discovery, the wait is going to be worth it.
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As Judge Arts points out over on Twitter, NetherRealm Studios is working, and has been working, to improve their “core technology for the Mortal Kombat franchise.” How do we know this? Because a slab of job listing reveals as much. Of course, this could explain why the studio’s schedule of releases has slowed down. That said, the implication is that both the next Mortal Kombat and Injustice games will be substantial improvements from the developer’s recent games.
“Several software engineer job ads from April (and November!) describe ‘core technology for the Mortal Kombat franchise’ aka KoreTech and a UE4 based engine that they’re trying to ‘further extend and innovate’. A pretty big change from their existing UE3-based in-house engine,” said Judge Arts. “Although MK Mobile made the transition to UE4 a few years ago, the console games didn’t yet, so that could be their goal. MK Next-Genย is probably real, too, since one of the ads mentions PS5 andย Xbox Series X.”
As always, it’s wise not to get too excited based on job listings, however, that’s exactly what some Mortal Kombat fans have been doing. Mortal Kombat 11 was a very impressive game from a technical perspective, but there are improvements to be had, and it seems like NRS knows this and is finally updating the game’s engine to prepare it for this new generation of gaming.
As for NRS, it has not commented on the speculation these job listings have created. We don’t expect this to change, but if it does, we will be sure to update the story accordingly. In the meantime, for more coverage on all things Mortal Kombat, click here.
