What has happened to the MK competitive scene?

[@kazmaahr]

Saw a homelander main complaining about Cage. The community is extinct.

[@SpaceCrumbs]

COOKED😭☠️

[@jlaw12204]

@kazmaahr a homelander main complaining about anything should be an auto ban from fighting games for life. Who else gets a full screen 3 way mix leading to full combo potential.

[@hands-ongaming7180]

Cage is still op tho. And not a homelander

[@tenryuublackrose2176]

@@hands-ongaming7180homelander is more op though, player using an op character complaining about another op character.

[@dabulldna6665]

Are u new to the FGC, you have Zero players complaining about Morrigan

[@jondiaz3329]

Tom, you might be one of a handful of people who could put together an accurate "history of MK" video, taking us through the early days up to when it became competitive and through to the current day. I would love to see that video.

[@arpadszabo661]

Numbers this year told us a lot. MKX and MK11 (which wasn’t even that good to begin with, and still… outside the release period and expansion release period for MK1, MK11 still has higher player numbers online) had more registered EVO players than MK1. And at the time of MKX, the FGC was way smaller than it is now. MK also used to be the franchise that outsold Street Fighter and Tekken by a ridiculous amount. Sfv sold 7.4 million, while mk11 sold 15 million. And now, SF6 is around 4 million sales after slightly more than a year, and with that, it outsold MK. So, what happened is that NRS refused to listen. They released a game that nobody asked for and criticized its ideas from day 1. Literally the only good things i can still say about MK is the sound design, cinematic quality (irrelevant in online play) and air combos. The kameo system is garbage. Now there are characters i would like to play, stuck as a kameo. MK shines in 1v1, not with a support system. But if they wanted to move away from that, they should’ve went with a tag game, with every character playable. But that still wouldn’t be enough because the gameplay is cheeks. Its very slow and the combos are very limited and braindead (kameo system plays a huge role in that) My other nitpicks are that 1, somehow they managed to make the game look worse. I didn’t like MK11 either, but it was the franchise’s artstyle peak. Everyone looked great. Now they are not… 2. Customization is also garbage compared to every game before. There is barely any, and most skins suck. It’s a passable at best online experience, but there is no shot i would travel anywhere to compete in it.

[@UnKn0wn86]

You just open Steamcharts right now and witness the sad state of MK: MK1 - 5,200 peak this month (with DLC release), already at 3700. This is from 600+ last month! SF6 - 52,000 peak this month (DLC release), at 31,000+ 24hr peak. T8 - at a constant 7-8k average for the past month. MK is simply fucked. To humiliate it further, they did a tourney at their own home turf... in Chicago... and got smoked by both SF6 and T8.

[@arpadszabo661]

@@UnKn0wn86 Yeah, just modified my comment to add the fact that outside the main game release and expansion release periods, even MK11 has higher player numbers than MK1. This game really is screwed.

[@CovenantAgentLazarus]

Mk 11 is WAY better. You literally dont have brain cells.

[@EldritchUniverse]

There is no way on Earth that SF6 outsold MK1. I wish it would have, but no, not even close. MK1 was 3 million copies in 3 weeks into its release. SF6 needed half a year or so to reach 2 million copies sold and that was a number they were very proud on. And from that point on MK1 was constantly in the top 20 best selling games on Playstation, as well as played more than SF6. MK1 is a terrible product left and right. I love the Mortal Kombat franchise but MK1 just feels like a shat out Call of Duty product. And I honestly believe that the mainstream audience has noticed that as well and that it will affect the release of NRSes next game. And they deserve every last bit of the fail that will hit them.

[@stefanjuarez6565]

⁠@@EldritchUniverse Both games are at 4 million copies. SF got there in 14 months. MK1 got to 3 million in 3 weeks, and needed more than a year to sell 1 million more. SF, outside of franchise bait, is heavily out selling MK1.

[@Tony_saint]

It’s cause that MKX trailer went hard asf with the best dlc characters

[@heelzhinkaiger360]

This franchise went down the toilet because of that pointless multiverse.

[@koopaklipz]

It’s not only the multiverse it’s how they treat popular characters and replacing them with guest characters nobody asked for. The laziness of the development of nrs. Yeah it’s a number of things

[@RickueEvans-oi1iz]

The franchise went downhill when they made it Mortal Kombat versus DC after that it is kept getting worse and worse

[@heelzhinkaiger360]

@@RickueEvans-oi1iz MK1 is the last straw where NRS fucked up all day.

[@TherealBigblue22]

Dude Mk is not and never has been defined by its excellent story mode

[@granddeath]

Yeah they fucked the story up with that shit.

[@bloodCount8895]

No one asked or demanded an Assist Fighter MK. If Kameos had its own mode like Tag in MK9, and MK1 was the straight 1v1 fighter, people would still support it. Plus, the balancing like Tom said about character power and some meta like fatals just water down the game. ALSO NRS communication sucks and their so called community managers suck and are the absolute worst

[@theshadiest7109]

No, this game is trash without the Kameos. You guys just don't get it, MK is only ever good on accident. MK2, UMK3, MK9, MKX. In 12 games, only 4 are decent/good with a slight competitive edge. This community is dumb. Extremely dumb.

[@small_blue_bird]

​@theshadiest7109 At least the MKs that weren't competitive back in the day still had loads of fun content that made them enjoyable games worth your money. Look at MK deception, terrible competitive game, but you still had a quality konquest mode, puzzle kombat, tons of bonus stuff to unlock. MK1 manages to deliver weak corny ass competitive gameplay and zero offline content. 😂 who wants to play bum tier repetitive invasions, and the story is an MCU rip-off mess thats over in like 6 hours.

[@theshadiest7109]

@@small_blue_bird I had no fun playing any of the 3D games. Zero. The models look like shit. The movement is clunky and slow paced. The fighting itself looks awkward. I'm old, I rented Deadly Alliance and Deception and returned them early. Never even touched Armageddon. Ed Boon has no clue how to make a game.

[@MrLustor]

Kameos were supposed to be used to expand combos. Instead you get kameos to cover scrubs from doing unsafe shit. Awful 🤢

[@Doobl3r23]

Wrong

[@scrapcuz8370]

Agreed

[@craigflenory2733]

I concur

[@LordHollow]

​@@Doobl3r23Cyrax wasn't used to cover unsafe offense?

[@BraveBuluc]

@@Doobl3r23accept it little fella, your favorite fighting game is casual

[@Fatal_Kombat]

Just listened to an interview and ninjakilla admitted he don’t like mk1 gameplay, prefers mk11

[@jlaw12204]

He said the same things about MK11 tho.

[@andiakpan8502]

@@jlaw12204yes while 11 had its flaws people weren’t doing unsafe specials into Kameos and completely bypassing neutral. In mk1 you get in for free and some chars don’t even have to go in, you can get mixed from full screen for 50% health.

[@1man3letters76]

BEFORE I watch the video I'll answer the question and say money being injected to fast in 1st set of big money tourny, mlg era, greed rose, being assholes to other players rose, online money tourny started then started online vs offline talk since net code was actually very good at time. Then that lead more into the toxic online mentality of posting video of players losing , remember the "scapled" era? Haha. Scene became less about the events, the buzz of meeting at tournaments, playing for love of game, now it's what can the game do for me? My "brand"? Covid making streaming than going to tournaments more viable option for well established players also became a roll aswell. With this game, as much as I love playing mk1 from beta till now It did release in a bit of a crud state which caused a major spike in people dropping it aswell, hopefully now when things improving more will come back for better offline, currently aswell the net code of this game is not as good as the previous nrs games after mk9

[@jlaw12204]

@andiakpan8502 that's one thing MK11 did much better than mkx or mk1, neutral. There was 0 neutral in X with the run mechanic. I agree about safe kameo, mk has always had tools to F neutral but the kameos shouldn't be safe on block . I think a solution could be more anti kameo moves like Jax gotcha grab.

[@neon_nexion6840]

​@@jlaw12204it's not better just you prefered mk11s slower neutral and passive decision making opposed to mkx and mk1s neutral where it's more about forcing respect on offense and active decision making and reads on defense

[@GenoDestroyer]

Even ninjakilla said the games too cheesy and not fun to play. Only person still saying yes to this is sonic fox😂

[@Mike-zb8cd]

I saw that interview, ninjakilla said that only sonicfox likes it cause mk bends over backwards to do what he ask for.

[@TsunamiJMG]

Yooo I came here to say this exact thing. It rewards cheese and cheap safe stuff. Toms point is valid but this isn’t the game to make the point about competitiveness.

[@aundreii151]

No shit cause it’s literally free money for sonic

[@raygunrice]

@@Mike-zb8cdwhat interview where can I watch

[@amosuawoyemi9959]

@raygunrice m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/j5iUXpdsn8mabdU&pp=ygUVTHMgdmlzaW9uIG5pbmphIGtpbGxh It's on this video where Ninja Killa gives his true opinion on MK1.

[@trentwilliams6930]

I think it's worth mentioning but as the days go on it is extremely clear that MK1 was supposed to be Injustice 3. In the game files, kameos are referred to as "sidekicks" and the entire kameo system functions just like the TMNT in Injustice 2. I think with the whole Warner shuffling, NRS didn't want to get YEARS into Injustice 3 development for them to lose a license or something so they took that and turned it into MK1. I think why people can't get with the game is because the game is not Mortal Kombat.. but it's not Injustice either. And so you have a game that no one really likes that's just lingering in limbo because it's not a real MK game but it's not a great Injustice game either because of the MK elements that are in there.

[@lucas29210]

What a mess,lazy devs

[@Jack_Ripper10]

It's really impressive the amount of effort Tom puts into not saying the kameo system is the problem of mk1

[@granddeath]

It is. Marvel VS Capcom breaks the assists for a reason, broken is fun. NRS babies cray about everything. if your going to add cameos lets them be broken. they fix anything that people complain about. you will never fix the game to suit all players. Mortal Kombat is a 1v1 game not 2v2

[@ЗьміцерГрамадскі]

Because it's not. There are various cameos and now characters can use different teams to get either safety, bigger damage and confirms or setups. The problem is it took a year to polish the game and make it fun to play.

[@iamthenati]

I'm not a competitive player (I'm a 99%er as Sonic would call it), but i wouldn't want to compete for a series that changes my main character's archetypes over and over. I've been a Kitana loyalist since Mortal Kombat 2. I hate Kitana so much in MK1 to the point I now play Li Mei. Kitana doesn't play the way i used to play her. It's not just Kitana either. The character archetypes keep changing for everyone.

[@edd4131]

Everyone in the base roster, especially legacy characters are just so boring bro. It sucks. I feel the same with Sub and Scorpion. I’ve mained them in every MK until now, where I’ve been experimenting a LOT to try and have fun

[@GoB1996]

A scorpion player told me the other night I was carried by Quan chi😅. You keep backing up for spear and Sareena, I’ll keep putting that boot in the back of yo head lol. I’ve made a few friends on MK 1 but not like before

[@hands-ongaming7180]

My favorite are scorpions who back up even when they’re already in the corner 😂😂😂

[@darkninja9499]

LMFAOO

[@othellorucker8107]

The competitive scene for nrs is kombat league. lol that’s why they have that shrine bs. They’ve fully bought into the casual scene. Just check out what ninja said. The game is built for scrubs and cheese. Takes no skill to pick up ferra and nitara or busted homelander.

[@hanzohasashi2522]

Bout time someone says this besides me. Seems like all these ppl don’t know wtf is going on and just say it’s the best game , it’s fun stop complaining…all this bs 🤡🖕🏼

[@ShizuoHeiwa]

Nitara/HL legit need to be deleted from the game it’s not even a joke at this point nor is it fun to fight against

[@Xsavagementailty]

As a casual all I can say is what did they sell me on? Piss poor story a garbage offline mode? Sure as hell wasn't the rank so who did NRS make this for?

[@burritovoorhees]

I always do wonder about the balance decision philosophy from NRS, for example Geras players will all say that his biggest weakness is having by far the worst D1. We end up getting a overhead launcher only with Kameo, which yea is a decent change but doesn’t fix Geras enough. He didn’t need a launching overhead he needs a better D1 first thing and some other minor changes to other tools

[@andiakpan8502]

Yes, I hate how they buff characters so randomly. And they show favoritism. imo every character should have a good mid and good pokes that all have the same range and start up. Like why does Laos d1 literally whiff at close range but mileena and sub can d1 from full screen lmao.

[@doctorheafhuh]

His entire F12 string being flawless blockable, and being able to get armoured through, imo is he biggest weakness up close. Makes his entire up close game pointless once you know how to counter him.

[@Designation6]

Here’s another. Cyrax is a better Sub. Foam ( iceball ) is faster and better on trades. Bomb traps ( Vapors ) can be used multiple times in combos. She trades the slide for a teleport Small one but Sektor has a better anti-projectile special than Omni-Man

[@wills5481]

Mk community is the most toxic without a doubt imo. Kombat league is my only experience tho.

[@DrillSgtMason]

Oh its toxic regardless. I muted all player comunication because of it. Im 34 and dont want to listen to anothet grown ass man scream at me for doing something he didnt like. Ive had people rage at me even though they won, but because it was close game and I gace them a hard time.. rage activated. Its absurd.

[@soundrogue4472]

Back when I played MK on the PS3, when I ducked a guy that completely mopped the floor with me. He continued to harass me on the messages repeatedly trying to get me to fight him, it turned me off from playing online dealing with a handful of bad apples who harassed me for not fighting them again.

[@DrillSgtMason]

@@soundrogue4472 Thats why I have my messages turned off too. Im a ghost online. I only play with freinds and freinds of friends.

[@georgealvarez1195]

Because NRS is the only company dumb enough to put rank based rewards in their ranked mode. No other fighting games does this because the last thing you want to incentivize in a fighting game is the "I have to win by any means necessary because I want this new skin" which turns casuals who suck into scrubby try hards who will use and abuse every single thing they possible can in order to get their ranked rewards. Ranked is supposed to be where you measure yourself and improve. It's not a place where you go to get a win by any means necessary cuz you want a reward.

[@soundrogue4472]

@@georgealvarez1195 My guy I was dealing with toxicity with MK BEFORE they chose to do that dumb idea. The toxicity has been a huge problem for a while now, most people don't notice a problem until it bubbles over.

[@JayceeLoran]

After MK11 I said I'm done, and I was, so this is just the opinion of a spectator. But I tried to *watch* MK1 and it's the most boring spectator game of the current fighting games, and that's saying a lot considering the current state of Tekken 8. Also, casually speaking, we all know why they they're making the "creative choices" they are and it's not because they want to write a good story. So competitively and causally speaking I refuse to support any element of this game.

[@FACEHEADD]

All the problems stem from one simple fact: This game sucks.

[@heretickishyt]

Fr its official mk1 sux

[@ThisChangeIsAwful]

yes, it doesn't really matter that they have both male and female cyrax and sektor in the game. the. game. sucks.

[@cg41006]

All mk games can’t just b taking serious and I’m a casual that played a lot of fighting games and SF always been the one that more balanced and can be taking serious you can’t take serious a fighting game when only top 5 have a chance and are stupid good compared to the rest of the cast

[@Ahch_not_op_of_Judah]

Facts 😅

[@Ahch_not_op_of_Judah]

@@heretickishytit officially does and the sad part is I knew it from the first moment it came out and I started playing .I wanted to go back to MK11 in my first few weeks but I said no maybe I’m just not used to what’s new. New doesn’t necessarily mean better at all.

[@Yugiohsachse]

The crazy thing in MK1 is, I cant find a mainfighter for me. In every game, I really quick find a main, but in MK1, I dont like the fighters

[@OctopusH2O]

I understand you 100%, i always switched character because i like variety but it was really hard for me to find a main, i mained Nitara and now im going back to mk to play Takeda cause he caught my attention

[@MrLustor]

Imagine me. I was a Raiden main and he got nerfed because of how people was using him. He wasn't broken alone, but if you used him with Kano o cyrax then he was broken. So he got nerfed. Because of two cameos.

[@Yugiohsachse]

@@OctopusH2O I play Sub Zero since launch and tried Kitana and Baraka, now Sektor, but I dont feel them all. Back in MK11 I was a Sindel main for years, but in 1 I dont like her. Maybe Im getting old xD

[@rbwatkins13]

Its dumb af the way you have to hit the buttons before the moves come out when doing combos. It always feels weird af never feels right

[@mikeestill1672]

Those good ol' dialed-in strings

[@Zillasnutt]

That’s been mortal kombat since forever

[@a.r.m.ycypher6645]

THIS! I can't play MK for that exact reason

[@youngroosevelt38]

Yeah that's one thing I've never liked about MK games.

[@Ghillie_Beast_yt]

Honestly, feels like a delay

[@shoahkhan5670]

The ONLY way to "fix" MK1: 1. Add three or four more specials per character 2. Add a 1v1 (no assists) mode 3. "Mutator" options for Kasual PvP -- e. g., no damage scaling; no meter reward for being hit; 1/2/3 bar breakers; Fatal Blows cost meter (not given for free at 30% HP).

[@Turtleshellon]

Mk9 and Mkx were fast paced and fun to watch. All the things people complain about is what makes the game fun to watch.. Nobody wants to watch a slow paced poking war

[@JacobHancock-d1u]

I raise you street fighter. But sf6 is fun to watch so I’m wrong

[@thesaltmerchant4564]

Sf6 aint slow paced bro lol ​@JacobHancock-d1u

[@void_kitsune9381]

​@@JacobHancock-d1u at least street fighter requires skill and talent mk11 and mk1 are just a lame spaming fest , and street fighter is acually fun to play and watch

[@grizzgreen6821]

Agreed 100% but there is one elephant in the room no one is addressing. As good as mkx was gameplay wise, the story pissed so many people off that the devs felt the need to shift to the multiverse stuff. Mk X ruined the story of this game and fans are still feeling the pain

[@hanzgolden]

being slow paced is not the problem, the problem is not offering resorces to the players to play this same slow paced game in different ways Samuurai Shodown is slow paced and every character feels different and plays the neutral different

[@pedrolima2221]

I personally dont like assist fighting games And the game was released with a very poor single player experience, i did not enjoyed invasions. With that aside i loved the roster, its the best since mk9

[@Ghillie_Beast_yt]

The living towers in this are a joke

[@ahnaldsprodigy1001]

Low spam to throw, infinite 50/50 spam chains that take 40% or more. If you don’t win the rock paper scissors guessing game twice then you lose the set. Not to mention the “prestigious combo system” just means cycling the same string and cameo - sareena sektor etc. add that to the lazy live service setup and you’ve got a waste of now 100$

[@othellorucker8107]

I made a similar comment

[@Retrofun69]

Its a boring game with boring characters that are disrespectful to the legacy. WHY would anyone want to touch the game?

[@Fairenough169]

And that’s why I only play kasuals. My favorite times in MK are playing multiple sets with people. I almost never hit “next opponent”. Best way to learn is to loose and adjust

[@Wigglez323]

I played 11. I stopped playing competitively because I got a decent job that didn’t give me time to play competitively. I still work so I still can’t play competitively but I have 1. Played it for the first month, went back to Injustice 2. I’m good

[@NoFearZero]

Back to injustice 2 is disturbing

[@kingalton10]

@@NoFearZeroinjustice 2 was ass compared to 1

[@taketheredpill1452]

it is in the best interest of everyone, in the community, to learn and support this man's arguments.

[@Skrubus]

The kameo system and sluggish combat kept me out of MK1 at launch and i just kinda lost interest. MKX remains peak for me.

[@DatBoyJames]

MKX is the best MK to ever be created. FAX.

[@OctopusH2O]

Mkx feels clunky on the movement side and the hits feel like they don’t hit, it looks cool and i would like to get into it with a friend but man it plays so strange

[@Raps_BZRK]

​@@OctopusH2Othe movement of the characters on X are smooth what are you talking about

[@WatchMeWhiff]

I'd have to agree, the KL experience is so toxic and annoying it takes the fun out of it. Then I'll find someone about the same level that rage quit and block me when I "level up". There is 1 guy i genuinely have fun with, will play 100 200 games in a row. I'd win 1 or 2, then after a couple weeks 5 to 7, after months 10 to15. I can feel myself getting better, but dude won't even share tech. Dudes like pro level, has all this info and won't share. I get labbing is important, but people just refuse to help anyone be better than them, or refuse to believe when they are. I just wanna have fun and hold my own.

[@KlooScary]

As a new player to mk i have about 250 hours on the game and i think a reason the game is losing traction is a lot of people who tried getting into the mk scene on this new one are getting deterred from continuing to play when your just getting shredded by a kenshi or natara for 40+ for making one mistake and then they start tbaging its just not fun at all I understand its a skill issue but why the toxicity for no reason

[@OctopusH2O]

Hey man, you’ll get used to it, my blood used to boil when shit happened to me, i developed a tougher mentality encountering the most toxic people on mk1 and Tekken 8

[@hanzobi1926]

@@OctopusH2O 20 years of playing online since MKD on PS2 and Xbox back in 2004 built a thick skin. Now, I mute all comms, so I don't have to listen to trash talking crap or some bullshit music the other person is playing that is looped and if anyone who beats me and Tbags, I zero react to it and move on to the next game.

[@Stanlos]

The illusion when comparing MK to SF and Tekken is those are more consistent in their identities (characters and core mechanics). MK has been a different game from one to the next. Or as Akro might say, increasingly they make the game for casuals.

[@ManuelFernandez-nm4hy]

3 things killed mk1 : - The gameplay with khameos, they focused on a pointless feature it should’ve stayed as an alternative 2 vs 2 separate game mode, now it’s just who chooses the most annoying khameo + it killed the chances of many characters to appear on the main roster - The story turning into marvel multiverse of madness instead of focusing on the new timeline as a true reboot with 100% different situations that we’ve never seen before -not being able to create your character, they had the perfect excuse with their multiverse shit to add this feature that does not even require balancing, just a fun extra game mode that we could’ve had

[@TooSweaty7]

15:50 I had just started to get into this community because I have mostly been a tekken and street fighter guy. I was curious about the community and wondered what made it special from the others. I buy mk11, and I beat this random kabal on casuals. He loses absolute shit (salt isn't the word). We play a first to 5, me:4 to his:1. He bails as soon as he gets one. He tells me he'll see me on the next mk, and funny enough mk1 was announced a week later. I called for the set, and he was never to be seen again. I realize that the community isn't really much of a community. It feels like almost everyone had this passive-aggressive tone and depised noobs that asked questions.

[@othellorucker8107]

This is funny af

[@Pokeysanic]

They're a bunch of man children witha huge ego

[@Ant1992_]

Pretty much the same when you take a day 1 character into kasual’s and they pick their main and tbag when they when 1 match and run away

[@nyhman78]

Remember NRS had to rush MK1 out cause what happened with suicide squad being delayed, In end MK1 would've gone through similar problems but maybe it could've helped improve MK11 in end or MK1 having a better first year

[@jaymal82]

I watching some Scorpion gameplay in a Tournament the other day and had to click off, gameplay was so boring 😴😴😴😴

[@joerrelsaguin4550]

Lemme guess they did that same gae ass kick like 3 times and called it a combo hahaj

[@SPACECOWBOY705]

The game might start the community, but the community makes the game

[@paintballJohn2]

Cause the game is corny and focuses on broken cheesy gameplay bro.

[@jerminemeusa6067]

MKX was and still is the best MK gameplay wise. NRS had a winning formula with MKX, they could have just expanded on that, like just add more to it. Tom you are so right bro.

[@Iwisoks]

2:34 the answer to this is actually very simple, those 2 obscure af games did better competitively than mk1 because they ARE better,their better by far especially under night

[@georgealvarez1195]

As long as SonicFox is the face of this games Competitive scene it will never thrive and be taken seriously. Who looks at SonicFox and goes "man I want to be that guy!" Nobody fking does. People look at Arslan and Punk with more respect than Sonic could ever get

[@dl-q3387]

This is a bad take lol what do you want sonic to just be banned because reasons? Sonic will stop being the "face" when someone can repeat or beat his tournament results.

[@garethtaylor8180]

Mkx was so much more fun to play than the last two

[@GarrettS-eb5ow]

The competitive scene for MKX & Injustice 2 was so fun to watch!

[@Angrymonkey2489]

Some people migrated to other fighting games including Street Fighter 6.

[@hanzobi1926]

The community is to blame, as it currently has the worst toxic idiotic generation I have ever seen and NRS are to blame too, due to the radio silence after MK11, which didn't help, as proper communication during development time would have helped but instead, it was dead for like 2 years. The constant changing of the core fighting mechanics from every version, whereas, Tekken and SF have always kept the main core the same and just built upon with each new release, yet MK is a totally a different game they put out each time. Imo, they should have stayed with how MKX was and just built upon that for 11 and MK1. MK1 was also, released as a early rushed beta, which again didn't help attract all of the old players of the franchise and it should have released in the current build but at the same time choose better DLC and drop all these superman clone type characters and terminator versions while charging a premium for it too. MKX had the best DLC and was cheaper too.

[@actsofabundance9079]

Sonic is the competitive scene lol, People can’t beat him so they rather play other games and complain, which is understandable,

[@demonzeu]

Things havent been the same ever since Netherrealm went “woke” 🤦‍♂️

[@jasonsmith530]

They’re ranking up to master with Terry

[@JagorM]

Terry made me want to play SF6 more and now its my main fighting game.

[@Tartersauce101]

I miss how hot female MK characters were.

[@Ahch_not_op_of_Judah]

MK 9 was the best One of this Era!Its was MK 2,3 ultimate,Trilogy,and Armageddon from my era.The Golden age of MK.What happened ?

[@Jdiroe]

Game hasn’t been the same since takeda. Netherealm need to consider having an option to turn off kameos.

[@AnyTiers]

Bring back MK Deception please

[@DooDoo-f4v]

That'd be impossible these days. It's too much fun for this new age crap.

[@krushingbro6620]

it doesnt help that NRS seem to not want to support thier own game like capcom and namco promote thier games the mk1 competitive scene was not supported by NRS it was non existent and everyone was hyped and views on the initial first couple tournaments was healthy then we saw the poor gameplay from the raiden cage cyrax spam, it was not a good look, and from there it was a sharp nosedive, al lthe things like the desync issues etc it just didnt let the game flourish it had everything against it and now its a year since release the game is not new anymore and nrs dont even care about the competitive scene. so the online and youtuber twitch scene thats all thats left.

[@djgeneticdisorder]

Its because life is not offordable anymore, people outside the US cant afford a ticket 300 plus and a hotel for another 400 bucks, it's just not worth it to travel nowadays, doesnt matter if a game is huge or not people just cant pay the travel

[@Bigpoppapump313]

Nice cope there buddy. Explain how sf6 and tekken 8 have stacked tourneys everywhere around the world then hahah

[@OctopusH2O]

@@Bigpoppapump313i think mk is the less paid in tournaments, also there are like 3 people who are still passionate about mk after mk1, the Tekken community is kinda hating on T8 but there’s still alot of people who have passion, and of course the pay isn’t that bad for tournaments

[@shoahkhan5670]

*Q.* What has happened to the MK competitive scene? *A.* Crouch jab > thrown > generic juggle combo > rinse-repeat.

[@cedricnzakou6143]

I don’t think I ever refused to rematch ever

[@JoeNeckbone67]

Hi guys, Tom. Im a casual player as most of us are. We aren’t pros and will never be in tournaments. What has killed this game is in your face: its the cameos… I hate them not only because they are a pain to on top of ur main characters which u castrated all into oblivion. Go back to the MKX system with modern fair reasonable balance and get rid of the stupid cameos and give us rich and robust characters that don’t need a crutch to even play them. Facts

[@hunithehun]

hey tom i think the main issue of competitive mk1 is how unbalanced the game is yes mk9 was way more unbalanced but LITERALLY EVERYONE had smth broken about them also i would buff the lackluster characters like sub smoke peacemaker and nerf the goddamn op characters like khaos reigns johnny sindel and kenshi a bit also would like to finally add a normal 1v1 mode

[@simosan22]

If only mk11 got another year of post release support. Its so frustrating that there's so many simple things that could be fixed with one patch to make it a great game

[@soundrogue4472]

1:15 as someone who has watched both MK and Tekken, Tekken gameplay is just far more fun to watch and play. MK is fun as a chill game with friends but outside of that, I don't play MK unless it's with friends and family; playing MK against strangers is a headache and a half. Tekken I just think less and stress less. Edit: 10:15 I will say, with my anger issues and immature behavior, the Japanese players and some of the American players tolerated me in the Discord servers for the more anime fighting games where they took time out of their day to teach me the game and to watch my gameplay/ replays. That and the fact Anime fighters have overall improved by a long shot from where they are now.

[@SpaceCrumbs]

What was the point of making most pokes minus 10 etc when they made all of the mids so slow? It’s mash city just like 11…

[@OctopusH2O]

Exactly man!!! You’re forced to use d1 on many occasions and it sucks, i want pokes to be good like in tekken and having a faster mid for most characters

[@SpaceCrumbs]

@@OctopusH2O 💯 Percent!!

[@TheMockingjay74]

Popularity reasons. People dislike the Singleplayet issues and story and overall product and it affected the whole issue

[@rickruss23]

Mkx is fucking goated

[@moneyybag_fro]

Still can’t believe the numbers are this bad 😢🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️ how can we fix this

[@NinjaSpicoli]

good ahh video fr 100% facts no lies told 14:13-18:18 1000% facts! this man explained beautifully why I hate MK11 sooooo much besides the bland gameplay it literally changed EVERYTHING! it was the start of downward slope of mk … I miss long sets that’s really how you make friends and grow. That’s why I was so salty about the first three in combat league in this game being changed because at least it was something.

[@emunkskater1]

People complaining about Havoks new string that cost 3 bars to use effectively, but STILL no one is saying anything about Sento resummon costing only one bar. I firmly believe it should cost 2 bars.

[@Walkens-z9k]

I think the main reason could be the lack of money in the competition scene. Imagine traveling to compete, paying for flights and hotels, finishing 7th place and winning only $30.. that happened at CEO. I think this MK game requires a lot of practice and labbing to be a top player. No one is willing to put that amount of hours because there’s no money really. I haven’t played MK for months but I think the game is fun and it just requires a lot of knowledge and hours to be on top. The only way NRS could save the pro scene is by announcing the pro competition with a million dollars pot.

[@Enimieofficial]

You know what Tom, I’m a sub zero player (thanks to sikander since mkx) and he sucks yes but I’d say I’m a higher mid tier player and you’re absolutely right You said people don’t use him right and I think people expect to be told how to play a character too much because when there’s new characters I always see the same combos every match because they learn it off of KZbin And also we should revive the kompetetive scene by choosing to play more games even in kombat league, what I mean is always press rematch win or lose I think that’s the way people would actually get better

[@XxXAntiJoshXxX]

Honestly if they brought back the lobby system I would play alot more. It was my favorite part of MkvsDC and MK9 (even though the online was trash)

[@J-Katz]

I boycotted mk1 once i saw they changed my favorite characters, cyrax and sektor, into female iron man bionycle bs. The woke movement got nrs and until that stops the numbers wont go up

[@kkay000]

Yeah because male cyrax and sektor will magixally fix it being a trash game.

[@youngroosevelt38]

I wouldn't really call that "woke" One of the problems is the multiverse bs. It enables bad writing.

[@DATABASS-LKM]

I can’t main a character without having to learn 5 others because there’s a gap in matchups. Some characters rely on kameos to have optimization then there’s some doing 38% for 10 hits without a kameo assist. wtf?

[@mist12345678910]

Kombat League filled the space. People can basically do it at home

[@RobocopReturns]

TYM? Hahahahahaha that’s a funny joke, good one.

[@MythicPlanet]

Theres barely people that are good in the online matches. Now theyve gone back doing wake up fatal blows and spam uppercut

[@rafaelguerra9608]

I have never met people that do any of the above

[@MythicPlanet]

@@rafaelguerra9608You wont see them in king of the hill.

[@msblackoozaru]

@@rafaelguerra9608 lol, that is actually the online special, i dont know why the went back on the armor starting frame and speed that up again like in mk11, the betas was much better with the slower armor

[@rafaelguerra9608]

@@MythicPlanet I play only ranked. Even streams I see people don't do wake up uppercuts and fatal blow. Armored start up is what they do

[@MythicPlanet]

@@rafaelguerra9608 I quit rank on season 4! Stay strong my guy

[@shottascoobbuz]

Thank your for your insight🙏🏿

[@SNELPACK]

Didn’t bout underknight till last weekend😮

[@tlonnan84]

You have to dress up like a furry and giggle all the time to fit in

[@Ktrigga]

I feel like MKX getting rollback late in the game was done for a reason. They knew they were going to change things up and if players didn’t like the new titles, that they have a quality option to go back to.

[@BlackChapters]

MKX was hype 11 and 1 aren't the end

[@АртёмТор-к2ю]

19:24 at this moment I understood that hotashi just posted similar video about ggst

[@Software_v.7.0]

When Tom talks about the Kameo system and it might "rub" some players - let's face it - most of the casuals don't wanna deal with the Kameos. Most (MOST) of the MK games were always 1v1 without extra cameo or anything. Having to deal with Kameo turns off some of the casuals which he admits that are the people raising numbers for tournaments and overall players online etc and popularity of the game. Also... my personal opinion - I'd like to see "spend a bar to enhance X ability and make it safe" rather than "use Kameo and make your gamble safe".

[@ninjakinryu1382]

The game just sucks, it's an ok product that's why casuals buy it. In fact, this game is exactly what the casual community asked for, a boring pos fighting game where there's no archetypes just basic gameplay with one mild guessing game in poke backdash throw, and they can just hit buttons and win then talk shit. People aren't signing up because they don't want to play it any longer than they have to lol. News at 10, local man doesn't go to see a movie because he doesn't like any of the shows that are playing. What a conspiracy.

[@Rangoon_Dip]

Simple. This is the new one. Everyone hates the new one and LOVES the old one all of a sudden

[@swagdaws8824]

I have fun with MK1. Im a competitive FG player (mainly for tekken) but MK has my heart still and I think this game is a lot more competitive than MK11. It may be cheesy but it reminds me a lot of the cheese that we had in MK9 and MKX where almost all characters can do some broke shit and thats thanks to the kameo system which I personally like a lot.

[@itsjustbradttv2382]

There was almost 1300 at EVO2019. I was one of them. No one wants to play MK anymore because MK1 doesn't represent what we like about the franchise. MK1 feels slapped together, by people who would be better off working at Sweet Baby Inc. This is truly the darkest timeline for MK. I never thought I would look back on MK11 and the 3D era MORE FONDLY than the current generation of MK. Kind of ashamed to be an MK fan right now. I don't even show people my MK1992 Dragon Tattoo anymore. When I do, they just laugh now. People used to think it was bada$$. Now, It's a big joke. This is analogous to Mortal Kombat 1.

[@ThisChangeIsAwful]

sweet baby inc told them to do the weird assist thing? nah, this has nothing to do with writing and everything to do with gameplay. saying sweet baby inc is the problem is admitting you dont care games are bad as long as they pander to you

[@itsjustbradttv2382]

@@ThisChangeIsAwful I said it was made by people who would be better off working with them. Not that sweet baby inc. is the problem.

[@itsjustbradttv2382]

@@ThisChangeIsAwful The Kameo system isn't great. But, that isn't everyone's reason for not liking this game. The vision of Mortal Kombat is ruined.

[@maforo85]

3D era was peak MK. Great lore, story, surprises, martial arts history, new great characters, tons of mini games, had good humor, konquest mode, etc. Those games were packed.

[@Rowlandi11]

As far as popularity goes, Mk is arguably the second most popular behind Smash. As far as the fgc is concerned, it might not even be in the top 5 and this has always been the case, even in MKx. It's SF, Tekken, Smash, Grassroots (snk, vs games., etc.), then maybe MK. But pretty much any popular anime game at the time will take that 5th spot over MK because of the crossover in MECHANICS. DBFZ, Strive, granblue, undernight....whatever the game is will always have more crossover until MK does something that bridges the gap in mechanics that those other players enjoy. The extreme violence which restricts MK's asian market is also a big factor. MK maybe had a window to cement itself in that position as the 3rd best fgc game but that time has passed. Lack of legacy, the vanilla gameplay of MK11, and the fact that anime games are now being released at an unprecedented rate and remakes of classics like MVC...yeah the window is gone unless the next release is amazing

[@heretickishyt]

Popularity declined! Sf6 outsold mk1

[@arpadszabo661]

⁠@@heretickishyt which is a ridiculous decline. In sales MK was always on top by a large margin. Hell, MK11 sold 15 million copies by 2022. So, getting outsold by Street fighter, while deserved, is wild.

[@heretickishyt]

@@arpadszabo661 cause sf6 is a significant upgrade from sf5 in every aspects, while mk1 is downgrade

[@Rowlandi11]

@@heretickishyt I wouldn’t say it’s declined so much rather SF has raised their own bar. Mk1 has sold 4 million units, SF has sold 4 million units. MK still carries a bunch of brand recognition here in the states , which is why they’re making another movie with a hundred million dollar budget. The brand of MK is still very strong overall but it’s losing its grip with the younger audience. SF was SO good that word of mouth raised its popularity to that of casual gamers considering buying it. Where Mk had always been the “casual gamer” fighting game next to smash

[@minzy421]

We need mkx tourneys on big scale. That was the last good game from nrs

[@damionbaxter4912]

The game won't begin to be competitive until the kameo system stops failing down.

[@nicholasblake9561]

I dont have any issues with MK1, online play, or people raging out because they lost. No one likes to lose, some express in other ways.... No issues here. Is a great game!!!

[@snop6176]

Dude all this is so true. Mk community has become so ungodly toxic. The Mkx days, I would play ft10s with random people all the time, learning and enjoying the game. Now you never find that. I quit Mk games shortly after 1, but everyone was so toxic before leaving

[@wizardgamehubz]

Nerfs are coming 100% there is no in-between. They will NEVER CHANGE!

[@azizkash286]

Honestly i feel like the start of adding guest characters killed the competitive integrity and communjry of the game. These guest characters are pure casual bait

[@msblackoozaru]

SFV did an amazing comeback and i hope the same for this game, all 3 new characters are nice and fun, and is a step on the right direction, but HOW MANY times we said that? this game was unfinished to the point it needed several steps in the right direction to get here, where is finally kind decent, NRS does not love MK as we do, otherwise they would not abandon MK11 the way they did, a project that was born in a much better place and could be easily fixed with a couple patchs, any other dev team would kill for a franchise that sells that much, look what Capcom did for Terry, a $10 dlc.

[@RayzeCruxis]

Problem for SFV is it took 5 years and even then they fumbled by making it Luke Fighter V. So if it takes another 4 years then holy hell this series needs to be put on break.

[@maforo85]

SFV is still considered thrash. Pros dont even like it. Nobody goes back to that game anymore after SF6. People still go back to SF4.

[@msblackoozaru]

@@RayzeCruxis first things first, year 3 was when the game became really good not year 5, and i would be totally fine with a longer life cycle, this 2 year life cycle only benefits WB and NRS, all fighting games get better with the time

[@msblackoozaru]

@@maforo85 By who? you may want to be a pro player parrot if you want, but at least repeat the things properly, go watch Punk's video when he played a SFV tournament couple months ago and how he praised that game neutral even above SF4.

[@RayzeCruxis]

@blackoozaru1916 yes let's remember how God awful season 3 was releasing Abigail that nearly killed the scene and had to do an emergency patch in which made the game even worse

[@OctopusH2O]

Right now my biggest turn off (after going to Tekken 8 for awhile and having a blast learning about it) is down jab, it feels like you are forced to use that shit to win some interactions, and frames being really strange in mk, in Tekken pokes feel so good to throw out and jabs too, in mk it feels like you’re stuck after doing a single jab, even if its plus on block it doesn’t feel like you have an advantage like in Tekken, the rest of the things like kameos n stuff and upblock are something I don’t even need to talk about since everyone already did

[@Ejp23_]

Sales don’t mean a game is better. Yes MK is fun and globally known and an eye candy to the USA but it’s never been a better game than Tekken or Street Fighter, from pure fun to pure fighting soul… its never been MK.

[@scrapcuz8370]

Ima long time nrs fan I had 3k hours mk9 and 5k hours in mkx mk1 and mk11 felt so lack luster and lazily put together I just lost interest all together I have about 1k hours between both games sad to see one of my favorite franchises go down hill

[@414Mufasa]

The game is too ridiculous to take serious competitively, too easy mode and there is no character identity you can guess every combo exactly that a team is gonna do no matter the rank not to mention the stiffness, the safe string into poke grab meta, all the safe over head and lows in the game, no universal push block, 3 bars plus kameo needed breakers, no more plus frames given on perfect blocks which defeats the purpose in even naming it that

[@Runk3lsmcdougal]

I never tried the game because of the cameo system

[@humaneshadow300]

Mortal Kombat should just go back underground like old days these middle man companies ruined it now just agenda on their side.

[@jamesmccoy151]

So in my opinion as to why MK is becoming less and less. The thing with Tekken and pretty much all of them. The difference between MK and Tekken is that when I load up Tekken, is that I don’t have to consistently look at the command list. Tekken 2 is my first introduction to Tekken and from Tekken 2 and beyond I can pick up and play with ease. Every MK I have to re-learn mechanics, understand new play styles of the SAME character.