Fatality performed on kommunity rumors
NetherRealm Studios’ creative director Ed Boon has shut down online rumors that the studio is preparing to reveal a brand new entry in the Mortal Kombat series at this weekend’s Evolution Championship Series (Evo) tournament.
As is always the case with MK, the rumors of the reveal came about because someone decided that they existed. Social media quickly started turning up the volume on whispers that Warner Bros. Games and NRS were preparing to reveal Mortal Kombat 12 during this week’s Evo festivities. Speaking on Twitter yesterday, however, the usually enigmatic Boon chose to be more direct, openly squashing the reveal talk.
After IGN noted that several fighting game brands would be in attendance at Evo, including Mortal Kombat, Boon retweeted IGN’s comments, succinctly adding “…except Mortal Kombat. Sorry.” Boon would then follow this response up with his own tweet, stating “It’s time for Street Fighter and other great fighting games to be in the sun! Let’s enjoy that!”
….except Mortal Kombat. Sorry. https://t.co/SkPZd2sEK6
— Ed Boon (@noobde) August 2, 2022
NetherRealm Studios ended support for Mortal Kombat 11 back in 2021, almost immediately after the release of the gory sequel’s final DLC update. Despite earlier plans for MK11 to be the longest supported and most kompetitive MK title ever, it seems that the NRS team was instead pushed quickly onto their next project once the DLC had hit the market. It should be noted that the persistent circulation of Warner Bros. Games sales rumors, as well as the disruption of the tournament scene due to COVID-19, has probably thrown more than a few roped spears into NRS’ fragile calendar.
Nevertheless, Netherealm Studios is currently working on its next release, and no doubt we’ll be hearing more about it when the time is right. With Street Fighter 6 scheduled for launch in early 2023, and the Capcom marketing machine in full gear, I would be very surprised if we heard/saw any official reveal for a Mortal Kombat 12 (or any other NRS title) during the remainder of 2022.
Of course… This doesn’t exclude any possibility of seeing the krew in MultiVersus before then…
Evo 2022 takes place August 5-7 at the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.
