After a new complete edition of Mortal Kombat 1 appeared in stores, fans began wondering if support for the latest Mortal Kombat was finished. Now, publisher Warner Bros. has confirmed their worst fears: Netherealm is moving on.
“We are hearing players’ requests for continued game support of Mortal Kombat 1, and, while we will continue to support Mortal Kombat 1 through balance adjustments and fixes, there will not be additional DLC characters or story chapters released from this point on.” said the official Mortal Kombat X account, before brutally performing a fatality on someone.
Netherealms next project was not specified, but recent rumours suggest the studio is to return to the Injustice franchise.
While Mortal Kombat 1 was no slouch in terms of sales, it’s safe to say that compared to Mortal Kombat 11 it struggled. Within its first year on sale Mortal Kombat 11 had hit around 8 million copies sold, whereas Mortal Kombat 1 achieved around 4.5-5 million in its first year. MK11 went on to surpass 15 million copies sold, and while MK1 will undoubtedly continue to shift copies, it certainly is not going to catch up with its predecessor.
Let’s be clear, though: 5 million copies sold is something many developers would be ecstatic about. The struggling Warner Bros. gaming division, though, was probably pinning a lot of hope on Mortal Kombat 1.
Netherealms cessation of support might have a lot to do with poor sales of the Khaos Reigns expansion. No official numbers have been released, but insiders began reporting that the expansion was a flop, resulting in future DLC and new fighters being cancelled. People then began to speculate that support for Mortal Kombat 1 would end early compared to Mortal Kombat 11, which received just over two years of support.