The Future of Mortal Kombat: More of the same?

[@Chaleko7]

It feels to me that ed boon found the monkey paw and wished he could keep making mortal kombat

[@unga_bunga_fgc]

Has nothing to do with Ed Boon. Has everything to do with money. Investors want them moneys, and MK is safe and risk-averse, and WB will pick the least risky option that can make the most money with the least funding. I'm sorry to go all "capitalism bad", but that's the reality of the situation.

[@nilyaj]

MK has become like the WCW of fighting games

[@MultiKarmacharger]

I misread that as CWC...

[@jasonpabstract4384]

Kombat Pack Of Doom

[@Azazel5021]

They really should leave it on a shelf for 3-5 years imo

[@brightonic]

more like 3-30

[@JcgLounge]

A good 4-5 years without Mortal Kombat will be a much needed break.

[@hefestos002]

Ten, also fire everyone

[@GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

MK being a fighting game product sounds like American cheese is a cheese based product.

[@TheLegendRome]

"Less of a fighting game made for competitive fighting game players, more of a product for players that want to play a fighting game" that's it you nailed it!. I've been trying to find a way to explain that to people for years but i could'nt find it in the simplest form. the MK series for a very long time has just been a product for consumers to play short term while the actual competitive aspect is so low on the priority list

[@MikeScarbro]

Comparing MK to Call of Duty is pretty apt. I've played MK games casually since the SNES. To me, they are all about the spectacle of the individual game. IIRC MK games always appealed more to the casual market and have included lots of single-player focused content like mingames, the Krypt, a huge focus on story mode, and other features which have much more appeal to the large casual audience than a strict focus on the competitive scene. I have enjoyed the last three MK games, but I never considered for a moment spending time to grind and get good at them. To me, they were games to pick up, explore the single-player stuff, mess around in vs mode for a bit, then dip until the next content patch.

[@Tremuoso]

don't you feel like they've just slowly sucked all the personality out of Mortal Kombat since MKX, and I'm stating the obvious to say it's a massive shame for a series where personality was the massive strong point

[@Donte0930]

Hmmm. What is the major difference. Like what aspect of the personality in your opinion gone? It's still gory. Plot I'm wary of because people hated Kombat kids, hated the Johnny cage push and hated how lui kang was done dirty in 9. So hate for the plot is still there. What's so different from a personality perspective?

[@valeoncat13]

Idk if I agree. I hear this complaint about almost every fighter. So I think it's mostly just gonna come down to what aspects of a games "identity" you respond to. Cause IMO, I think MK1's visual identity is much stronger than MKX or 11, but plenty of people would disagree with that too.

[@voidkirb5477]

@@Donte0930 Mostly that the fantasy weird shit is kinda getting more and more 'realistic'. There's SOME return to that in MK1, esp with a lot of the interactions with the outworld chars in story mode, but it feels constrained.

[@RicosoSuave]

@@voidkirb5477 do you think maybe its because of how high fidelity the graphics are now ?

[@SIBStudioss]

Yes, it's slowly lost it's heart and personality

[@sals6]

Imo a good fighting game can last almost a decade.

[@doogies]

if its really good? longer

[@sora4440]

Melee, Third Strike, MvC 2 and UMvC3 have been going on for a while now.

[@Walt_Chocolate]

The term "Celebrity Death Match" brought a tear to my eye🥹. That was a fun show.

[@similaritiesendhere]

MK is trapped in a time loop. Every time they reach the end of John Tobias' lore, the story goes off the rails and they have to reboot. Now they've rebooted MK into being an assist game with a multiverse bs. There was no reason for MK9 to rush through the lore of the first 3 games except for the fact that Ed Boon can't expand the lore. Every time Ed Boon paints himself into corner, reboot. I bet you a dollar that this multiverse crap gets rebooted back to the original MK storyline. Time loop...

[@JoelBurger]

MK1 immediately pivoting to multiverse slop when it was supposed to be the New Era was the clearest sign that they've just given up trying to do anything new or interesting.

[@similaritiesendhere]

@@JoelBurger MK has a built in flaw. Killing off its characters is their main selling point. If you can't write new stories and can't design new, interesting characters, you probably shouldn't be killing off the characters you already have just to be "edgy". Same thing goes for gameplay. MK10 was good. Why did they reboot the core gameplay instead of building on the MK10 formula?

[@t4d0W]

@@similaritiesendhere Because part of that core gameplay was wearing out its welcome after so long. 3 different 'load outs' per character was nice but why put so much work when some of those load outs are not even fleshed out? Though I will argue that part of the appeal of MKX to me was it played 'fast' like some anime fighters. Though the run mechanic hooked up some chars. The slower it played the more of the 'core' mechanics seem to get exposed like NRS projectile zoning.

[@similaritiesendhere]

@@t4d0W Remove the loadouts and give the characters all their moves. Then balance that. Make the variant outfits unlockables. Problem solved. Ed Boon doesn't know what he's doing. He's not a lore creator. He's not a fighting game designer. He's a salesman masquerading as both. He couldn't balance MK11 so he made an assist game (which is way harder to balance). That tells me that everyone at NetherRealms is scared to tell him when he's wrong.

[@rayhoyer4829]

God I hope it does get rebooted because this mcu multiverse bullshit needs to go.

[@neonthunder3261]

Immortal Slopfest

[@harrisonzahn5715]

Growing up an MK fan since it started I had to come to terms a while ago that NRS are movie makers. They’re making entertainment a la WWE. Bamco, Capcom for example are more like MMA -they are still fighting game makers first and the products clearly reflect that. MK has become the one night stand of fighting games.

[@ThalesAcm]

mk9 on current consoles and ill never need another nrs game tbh

[@alexl4342]

We the consumer shape how the company is going to strategize. If we the consumer don't want to buy season passes and iap purchase drops constantly after the initial release, then the studio isn't going to waste their time and money making them. If we the consumer want the whole package upfront for a single payment, then that's what the studio will give us. What that means though is a much shorter life cycle for each game since the studio doesn't have enough incentive to update the game post release.

[@kbkksh91]

1:53 wow! I didnt know mk11 was the 2nd best selling fighting game!

[@brightonic]

Hating on Smash smh my head

[@kbkksh91]

​@@brightonicmost people dislike chomos

[@Azazel5021]

Covid sales buff

[@rycksoto9003]

Thanks for shining a light

[@sonofdredd]

It is what it is I suppose. But they are risking wearing out the franchise. Anyhow, as long as there are gen-x and millenials breathing, Mortal Kombat will be a thing.

[@t4d0W]

The moment the financials reflect its wearing out the sooner NRS/WB games will act on it.

[@azizkash286]

Mk is the Cod or FIFA of fighting games

[@jasonpabstract4384]

MK reverting back to the arcade cycle? Ok! I'd give Ultimate Mortal Kombat 1 a shot next year.

[@Rufus2k2]

The same way Batman can have the Arkham series and show up for Injustice, I'd like to see something like that for MK, make an action game spinoff that's even more in-depth than the old Shaolin Monks game was, explore Outworld as either an established character like Kung Lao or even a new character that will show up for the next fighting game, battling monsters, ninja, cyborgs etc. Hell WB is currently sitting on that Nemesis System from their LOTR action games and that would be perfect to implement here as well.

[@thrillhouse4151]

4:52, I’d buy that game! That’s what I’d make if I were a Warner brother.

[@WormyJester8]

Weird that they haven't made big budget version of Terrordrome

[@Darsade]

Speaking as former NRS enjoyer, still appreciate a broadness of cultural cover MK has. Hell, where i'm from mortal kombat is kinda household name and it being such a approachable FGC gateway is great. That said, if you invested in the series corporate and developer decisions from one game to another make the parting from it quite bitter.

[@SLFKimosabae]

I haven't seen the video, yet. Yes.

[@christianw935]

They have a casual audience yet it feels like they've been catering more towards esports since mk11.

[@shinfitz]

Very interesting perspective. I like that thought about it being what it always have been but more so. I see it as somewhat if an “L” since I was hoping the community would be more willing to play the game for longer.

[@GeinAsher]

I wanted MKX 2 instead of MVCI.

[@OGamelon]

Same man, it looks so cool and I want to love playing it but having to think about assists just kills all my interest

[@SomniaCE]

It makes perfect sense but it is also kind of funny how oldheads would just embrace and expect 6-12 month cycles for new games/versions with no post-launch to now expecting multiple years of support for a single game for it to be considered legit. I get the feeling Ed was being serious when he said he wanted to support this game for much longer, especially given they gave it an extra 2 years in the oven with no IJ3 in the middle. WB execs are truly clowns.

[@SomniaCE]

The biggest shame is MK1 went from meh at launch (but still leagues better than MK11) to a game that is super fun. MK9 and MKX are still the pinnacle of NRS for me but man it is a shame to see them have to throw in the towel so soon when this game could have become something truly special with another year or two of changes.

[@Fischonkel]

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I would love for fighting games to return to their "yearly" update-cycle (think KoF series, SF2 saga). I am honestly not feeling this whole "games as a service" thing, tons of DLC, packs whatever, constant updates and changes... I am a dad now (40+), working full time, having two kids - I don't got the time and energy to keep up with the everchanging world of modern fighting games (especially not when so many interesting (and kinda odd) oldies get re-released - shoutouts to SvC Chaos and Rage of Dragons) not to mention other great games outside the FG-spectrum. So, I can certainly see an appeal in the way MK might have yearly "fire and forget" releases and doesn't really bother with being hardcore competetive.

[@Jorgec224]

I'll see yall at the next reboot

[@KAKA42-c3t]

As someone who played all the PS2 MKs, I just feel sad knowing that no MK can give me that urge of opening a game on a random night and just playing arcade mode. You know…..the same feeling third strike gives me

[@AllOOon561]

Mk1 got the pit fatality 😂

[@Chairman_Mao]

I want to like this series more but sometimes the features aren't as strong as they seem on paper. MK has a strong history of making sure you have plenty to do via single player content but the multiplayer suite can leave a lot to be desired. MKX's PC port issues especially when it comes to their online still annoys me to this day. I waited on buying MK1 to see if issues came up and sure enough, the barebones online experience turned me off buying this game. At this point, I am happy for people who still enjoy MK but I've given up getting into this series.

[@t4d0W]

At this point I'd love NRS to go back doing actual single player stuff. Maybe not developed by their 'A' team but I always liked their adventure/beat-em up games of the past to some degree (Mythologies, Special Forces, MK Shaolin monks).

[@Chairman_Mao]

@@t4d0W I like this but I get the feeling WB only wants NRS to focus on MK as a fighting game as historically their mainline games sell the best.

[@faceurhell]

WB Games sinking as a company is slowly sinking even their best video game developers. Rocksteady made 3 God tier Batman games then fell off hard with Suicide Squad, and NRS has slowly lost the plot the last few years. The fact the NRS dive is not harder is actually impressive when every other media at Time Warner / Discovery is in the toilet.

[@themuggle7071]

Mortal Kombat is the Mcdonald's of fighting games. It's fast food slop for the masses. It's not meant to be a beloved fighting game, it's supposed to be Call of Duty.

[@satsu3098]

i feel NRS has already proves that they can at least *make* crossover conglomerated game with both Injustices. theyve made some of the best looking iterations of DC characters to ever exist, then a few years later its Johnny Cage doing a fortnite emote in a $40 purple shirt and $500 sunglasses he stole from a Netflix set

[@micksmith1812]

Id really like to see MK move away from the realistic looking art style and character design and do something more stylized like SF, GG, KOF

[@emiiriri]

kind of expecting them to lean into the single player aspect of the ip going forward because theres absolutely an audience for it. maybe do something like shaolin monks 2? lol

[@dmelton_yt]

Having conversations about MK is usually hard since they're rarely ever objective due to the bad image it has in the fgc. With that said, as someone who has bought all of the games since MK vs DC, and took the competitive side seriously since MK11, seeing MK decline in real time makes me a bit sad. MK11 was a great product but not very fun for most people, while I find MK1 fun when I play, but it's not a good product. As a developer myself, I have a lot of empathy for the teams at NRS, as I know they really care about the IP, and every day I wish that WB let it go. I currently don't play MK1 very much compared to other fighting games, and moving forward it will be hard to justify buying another game if this season 3 cancellation is true. MK is very dear to me and I'm tired of the IP being pimped rather than handled properly.

[@neotron6490]

And im the only one waited for character customization just because of final chapter in the original Story mode, and I wish that should be part of final update before next MK game and after last DLC too

[@ZzigZaG00NIN]

At the start I thought MK1 was going in an interesting direction with the system The problems at the start might be why people at least on PC went back to MK11 Even with the complaints the experience was unfortunately better previously

[@dreadnightdew6225]

It sounds like MK should just be an anime arena fighter like Sparking Zero or Ninja Storm series lol.

[@youngcrespo]

i can't help but be a bit sad for the franchise. i really like the stuff in it and there's an ideal version of the lore, mechanics, roster and features that is attainable but we have never gotten, and i feel we never will. like basically everything ran by WB at the moment, MK's gonna suffer heavily from their mismanagement and drive away longer time fans to become fighting game's version of Fifa, but i can only hope that like MK1, the team behind the gameplay keeps cooking some amazing stuff even when the final produt is rushed to meet a deadline or whatever

[@OccuredJakub12]

Mortal Kombat never had deep and engaging enough base combat mechanics to support a serious competitve scene without outside support from NRS. Hot take, MK and Injustice feel more like Party fighters than even Smash Bros. They are made for casual fun first and competitive balance second. They do not give a fuck about any legacy skill nor gameplay pace. 'Hollywood fighter' is a very apt description.

[@PACIFICADOR81]

loved the MK2 soundtrack on te bg, and I'm currently hating how WB is trating MK, M1K felt horrible coming from 11 and that one felt even worse coming from XL xD I'd hate MK become even sloppier but that seems to be the future of the franchise

[@theamazingrobin927]

They need to go back to mk deadly alliance and make the games filled with content and calm down with the mechanics. I’ll be happy with weapon stances like deadly alliance and deception

[@e69alpha]

if they could make another game like mkx but put it on the never ending support like xenoverse 2 i bet they'd make money. fast pace combat with a run mechanic a lobby to fight elder gods in bring back that faction stuff instead of a battle pass make it a krypt again you earn in game currency to open krypts again. then again im no game dev

[@azumashinobi1559]

Feels weird saying this as someone who doesn't do a ton of singleplayer stuff but I almost feel they should lean into singleplayer more like substantially more. I'm really curious what that could look like. I'm only one person but I feel like I get little to no value from the competitive side of mk and I don't think I'm the only one looking at the numbers. Currently to me it feels like it's almost half assing both the competitive side and the singleplayer side. That said I'd be interested to see them leaning more competitive too I just don't expect that at all.

[@grutsthefoodman3645]

I just want Shaolin monks 2

[@outlawdg]

I mean forgive my skepticism but I don't entirely believe a company as fucked up as WB isn't willing to just go back on their word on "only focusing on 4 game franchises including MK" and sweep it under the rug, I wouldn't trust that company as far as I could throw the CEO.

[@adamlannerd1408]

Casual game for 13 year old casual gamers. MK has always been a joke/casual fighting game and that's ok.

[@Nooctae]

Apparently, the casuals players didn't really like the cameo stuff ? I don't really know much.

[@Mage_Nichlas_]

It almost feels like they caught wind of the production rate of Street Fighter 2 and are trying to keep up with the flood from the 90's. I've personally never really been into Mortal Kombat aside from playing the original a couple times years ago. I'm just not a fan of the gore, which has only gotten far worse with the advent of 3D and the literally mind numbing of the employees working on it. I'm just here, sitting atop the Street Fighter 6 pile happily with my great game and watching the new Mortal Kombat appear as a disaster from a casual sales and offhand competitive perspectives.

[@GeraldsMedia-gk1rn]

tight

[@BlackMageLozi]

We need KI for the final blow xd

[@williampounds5191]

Mortal Kombat has always been the western version of those Naruto and non DBFZ Dragonball games dressed up a more as a "legit" fighting game. It's always been for the casuals. It's up to you if you feel insulted by that or not.

[@IKahler15]

Ive tried to like NRS' games so badly, but I just cant get on board with the rosters, gameplay and just isnt for me. Id love to have my mind changed but since IJ1 these games just arent for me ig

[@ORIGINSXIX]

When a fighting game has to use characters not original to there roster to sell its an issue. You should be able to put name to faces in games like mortal kombat and should be able to get everyone excited. But mortal kombat doesnt do that and use famous characters to bring in people. Which yes it does sell but it wont sell to the community you have. You can appease to a new community but never forget the community you built. They’ve forgotten there original fans for causal fans. Which will cause dlc not to sell.

[@AdamJorgensen]

More of the same is fine but for the love of dogs, let me sit in training while matchmaking 😢

[@SeñorBroseph]

My gripes with NRS games is that they have a very short shelf life compared to other fighting games. MK11 and 1 just aren't very fun to watch as a spectator, so I'm just not interested in those games in general. The series has fell off with how the gameplay just isn't as fun as it used to be.

[@strippinheat]

How about none? It had its time and is now irrelevant. It's that kid that peaked in high school and is now 40 and trying to recapture those glory days while everyone else moved on. Let it go.

[@roadhoundd.]

11 was arse and 1 is worse.

[@Lucario4thewin]

Live service gaming isn't a good model for gamers.

[@krushingbro6620]

i wont be supporting any nrs product ever again.

[@mario101395]

Apologies for the wall of text in advance, but I have been an MK head for basically my entire life ever since MKII on the SNES, and I'm pretty conflicted on the general direction they may be going. On one hand, even though MK is generally referred to as the "CoD of fighting games", unlike CoD, MK genuinely experiments a lot when it comes to new mechanics and changing up previous version of characters. Sure, Street Fighter or whatever other game might be something more designed for competitive players per se, but MK as an actual game I've always found a lot more refreshing since their experimentation, while sometimes leading to very strange mechanics and balance such as launch MK1, always give each entry a unique feel, and for the time that I enjoy the game, I really do enjoy them. For example, a few specific characters aside, I thought MK11 was an incredibly fun game, and the amount of labbing of combos and strategies I did in that game might be the the most I've done for any fighting game. Not to bash SF too much since I do like the series as well, but I literally cannot bring myself to play SF6 anymore cause no part of the game brings me joy when it comes to exploration of the game. SF6 feels like a game to be solved, and more or less, I understand the game that the devs want us to be playing. MK1 on the other hand, yeah I don't play it anymore either but when I was playing it, the range of player expression and weird shit was genuinely cool in a way that few modern fighting games achieve. Now obviously, again, the balance kinda fucked that player expression since there were some insanely overtuned outliers such as Cage and Cyrax, but as a whole package, it felt like a game with a crazy amount of potential. So with all of that said, do I want MK games to live longer so they can be explored more while also being the main, relevant title for the NRS scene? Or do I want MK games to kinda just go for a new idea, let it cook for a bit, and then move on to the next one? I'll be honest, I basically don't play fighting games anymore so for me, the latter option sounds enticing since I can just play the new game, cook some stuff up, and then drop it when I'm bored, but the former does allow for these weird ass games to have more time to be fully cracked open, which is the stuff I find the most fun about MK overall. Basically, I'm fine with either direction, but I do think I would still prefer the games to be allowed to have longer lifespans. I know a lot of people didn't love MK11, but I genuinely really enjoyed that game, and the later in its life it got, the more interesting I found it overall. Plus, MK11 having a proper amount of time to cook really allowed it to feel like a full video game package, which I think MK1 is embarrassingly not even close to, and I don't think any fighting game has matched MK11 yet as a casual fighting game package. So yeah, give more times for each entry in the series to cook so they can be something fresh and exciting each time while also being a fully fleshed out experience.

[@billyhornewer]

Screw it let ed boon move to japan Sell MK to a japanese developer and call him ed san😂 First MK at some point will be sold as a franchise to new ownership just looking at trends But seriously MK needs to exist within the fgc and fighting games as a whole way better than it has been.The franchise for what it is,is still great overall.They set themselves back with many things including(gameplay,systems etc.)not appealing to an audience outside of north/south america and little EU. They are also currently banned in other countries or have strict laws about the purchase of there game and very little marketing geared towards other’s countries not mentioned.Look Mk is a unique game but why not appeal to the largest consumers if fighting games…Other fighting games player bases. In doing so add features that will bring together a bigger audience to your game like no gore feature and holding back to block(which exists in injustice) and maybe some combo systems that exist in other games MK can still be unique off of design alone and doesnt have to be this varied 2D game with weird controls.and In doing this MK holds on to it popularity and doesnt get looked down upon by the people/community who specifically plays these types of games.

[@AegisRick]

T7 is among the top 10 of all time with 5 times more sales than T8. Nobody is playing T7 over T8. So it's a massive failure to have people prefer the older title for MK. Say and call me whatever you want. If they continue down this trend of absolutely uglifying their female characters, MK won't be for anyone and will continue to downward spiral. Make men masculine, make women feminine because that's what does and always has appealed to human sensibilities. A fundamental marketing concept that MK understood since the beginning, but Ed Boon apparently forgot. Trying to appeal to guys by bringing in the most iconic badasses in media doesn't work if the supposed eye candy is frankly repulsive to look at.

[@j.i.nthenobody54]

That is not the issue. The fact that MK1 was unfinished, had a shit story, had no single player content, and has the low shelf life of every MK game is the true reason

[@Harrytmik]

5:04 why can conan reflect projectiles? That's wack 😂