Just ahead of New York Comic Con, Dynamite Entertainment has announced a deal to publish comics based on Microsoft’s Xbox One franchise, Killer Instinct.
Killer Instinct is a fighting game franchise that debuted in 1994 and was acquired and rebooted by Microsoft as a launch title for Xbox One in 2013. The original Killer Instinct had a comic book tie-in of its own, and the reboot is following suit in 2017.
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Killer Instinct is among the most downloaded games on Xbox One, with over 7 million unique users.
“We are thrilled to enter into a partnership with Microsoft Studios with Killer Instinct,” says Nick Barrucci, Dynamite CEO and Publisher, in a statement. “As we continue to expand our line of video game tie-in titles, Killer Instinct is a perfect choice with great characters to explore and expand upon. The comics will be the beginning of a publishing program, which we will announce more details around soon! I think fans will be very pleased with what we have coming.”
“Comics is something the Killer Instinct fans have asked for again and again since launch. With the release of our newest expansion, Shadow Lords, players can see that the Killer Instinct cast has some fantastic back stories and there are still more stories to be told,” says Earnest Yuen, Executive Producer for Killer Instinct at Microsoft. “We love Dynamite Entertainment’s work and our team is incredibly excited to have them as a partner to expand upon the KI universe in the upcoming comic series.”
“I played Killer Instinct back in its original incarnation and I was always impressed with the great character designs and interesting world that they had built out from the start,” said Dynamite Director of Business Development Rich Young. “This is a game that has a rich history now… and they keep adding to it with more cool characters and game features on a regular basis, which is helping it gain even more fans. I’ve spoken a couple times with the KI team, and their passion really comes through, so I already know we’re going to create some amazing work here. It’s going to be a very fun world to play around in!”
Dynamite Entertainment plans to announce further details about its Killer Instinct comics in the coming months and expects Killer Instinct to arrive in comic book form in late 2017.
