Rumour: Mortal Kombat 1's Future DLC Cancelled After Poor Sales of Khaos Reigns

They need to go back to MKX combat style and fast!

Edit: Seeing people comment below saying MKX is worst entry, that's the most craziest thing I've ever read!! Clearly don't play fighting game very often.

Another MK with very short life cycle. Why i'm not surprised.

MK players got my sympathy.

@PuppetMaster except this life cycle was backlash for how mid mk1 is; the previous times were just the devs not wanting to continue support despite the success

mk1 is trash. waste of my $70

Apart from noob saibot, the characters were underwhelming. A lot of people wanted jade, skarlet, sareena but we got characters no one asked for

@Oram77 Facts. All we want is a cross between MKX & MK9 . not this new streamlined & slow experimental gameplay , but this time with air combos and tag assists . dumpster Mk11’s gameplay entirely & go back to X !

Good. Close to the price of a full game (€50) for a story expansion (that takes a few hours to finish) to a competitive fighting game. They also gated the second character expansion behind this, so if you wanted the new characters you still had to stump up for the story expansion (first character pack was €30).

Plus, the roster expansions feel more like advertisements for other franchises than anything at this stage. I'm playing MK for Sub Zero and Baraka, not ***** Ghostface and Peacemaker.

EA and Ubisoft are frequently branded as the worst publishers in the industry, but I've long held the opinion that it's WB.

It's too expensive.

I like to dabble in fighting games but they are too much for me to get too deeply involved in - i don't have the skill and i don't have the time or patience to improve enough.

So when you drop a base game at full price with an expansion that costs almost as much again it just isn't for me.

Worse still, everyone knows full well there will be a 'Komplete' edition that will drop in price down to £25 in a very short time.

Maybe just maybe - and this goes for all fighting games - include more content in the base game.

Stop telling me before the game is even released that you are going to try fleecing me multiple dlc at extortionate prices to get a full roster.

They just need too release MK original trilogy for modern consoles.

That's great news! MK1 in some ways felt like a step down from MK11 which itself was a step down from MKX. It needs to go back to being dark and gritty, make it so that in a way we feel like we're playing a horror game (again like MKX).

@MrPeanutbutterz The characters can be bought separate and yet again guest characters sell the most hence why they do them, moan about Ghostface all you want but he will sell more then any of the MK characters

@nomither6 Funny because one of the few things people love about MK1 is the gameplay. Don't why you're praising MKX its easily the weakest NRS entry.

@DennisReynolds They can be bought separately for €8 a go, which will run you €48 instead of the €30 for the full stack.

The funny thing is MK1 is actually my favorite of the modern 2D MKs. I liked 9 but X and 11 did nothing for me. I found the kameo system for MK1 pretty interesting even if it provided some balance issues. I also liked how they brought back some 3D era MK characters which is my favorite MK era. (Seriously, give me a collection of those and I'd buy it in a heartbeat WB.)

The only reason I don't play it more is I just prefer SF more.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Here's the thing - base versions of modern fighting games are rammed full of content already. Tekken 8's base roster is one of the biggest (and notably - significantly bigger than the fully unlocked rosters of the older games that people cry "but unlockable characters used to be free!" about) in the series, the characters have massive and yet well balanced movesets, training tools are complex, single player content is chock.

Street Fighter 6 has the largest base roster of any new entry to the series. It also has a wealth of single player content (there's basically a fully fledged 30 hour "build your own character" RPG in there), comprehensive training tools, robust online modes and netcode that's so good it's basically witchcraft. It's also balanced to the point where the entire cast is viable at high levels. It's also seen subtle tweaks and refinements based on player feedback since it was released.

Now to my point that people seem to miss completely - the extra DLC characters just wouldn't exist in the older games. Sure, they removed Heihachi from Tekken 8 and later added him as DLC, but you know what you did when they removed Kazuya from Tekken 3 and wanted to play him? You waited four years for Tekken 4 and then bought that for full price. Or like when they removed M. Bison from Street Fighter 3 - he didn't return as DLC, instead you waited over a decade for SF4.

This model ensures that the games receive long term support, both from the developer and players. It also means that buying the game on day one will still be valid in five years when the Super Turbo Champion Edition is out and it doesn't fracture the player base by making early adopters buy an entirely new game just to access new characters (which is what, you know, the older versions of these games people champion did).

I have been known to buy the odd character or DLC pack for fighting games in the past but MK1 was just a disappointment so was never going to get extra money out of me. It might have fared a bit better if its release wasn’t sandwiched between SF6 and Tekken 8, both of which felt like a massive step forward in their respective series….MK1 felt like a step forward with its ideas but a step back in gameplay.

@get2sammyb Who’s hand do I need to bite off for an Injustice 3?!? The second is one of my favourite fighters of all time! I put days into that game.

To expensive and I feel the are way to many guest characters. So many mainstay/ favorite characters are not there. The starting roster is to small there are way to many better alternatives.

@GeeEssEff At this point I would pay for a native injustice 2 complete edition I'm that desperate.

@DennisReynolds MKX is arguably the best NRS game purely for the combat system and the roster. Ask anyone who plays fighting games regularly and they'll likely tell you they're favourite is MK9 or MKX. To say MKX is easily the weakest game is absurd.

@Flaming_Kaiser Same dude! I had this exact thought shortly after I posted that comment. I miss Injustice

@get2sammyb yup. Especially how MK11 kept charting higher than this, even mere months after its release

@MrPeanutbutterz if I’m told about XYZ characters are coming in a future DLC, before the game has even released. Then said character could have been in the base game.

Either way it’s ridiculous for a company to tell me I need to spend £50-70 (whatever it released at) then multiple lots of dlc for a ridiculous price to have some more fighters.

Companies have to stop taking gamers for a ride, and gamers need to wise up. - be it play early, deluxe editions, pre order for broken day 1, half a game with future dlc.

Why buy MK (or any game) day1 if I know I wait it will be in a better state, feature complete and a fraction of the price.

It might just be me, but the install size is ridiculous for a beat'em up. It's a genre I will play for an hour or two if I'm in the mood and then may not go back to for months and to have (on XBox) nearly 200gig for a fighting game is crazy, when I'm sure the MK Trilogy on XBox Arcade was around 200mb (I think).
This install size puts me off getting the game

@Burnish1619 I really did not get on board with MK10, partly due to the 3 styles for each character being separate (remember on PS2, you could tap a button to switch style mid-match). I greatly preferred MK11, and still quite enjoy it, but MK9 was/ is absolutely my favourite. MK1, however, isn't even worth discussing 🥲

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Just because they have a planned roadmap of support of several years (you're aware of the basics of how product management works and some Management Bro at Capcom doesn't sit up three years after release and say "I want five new characters for next week!", right?) doesn't mean that content was good to go at launch.

You're ignoring my point that those older games (which were already smaller to begin with) got iterative expansions that were the cost of a new game (like say Street Fighter 2 > Street Fighter 2 Turbo > Super Street Fighter 2 > Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo). You waiting five years to play Street Fighter 6 (or whichever game) is effectively buying the last version of a game everyone else has been playing for those five years. Or they just didn't get any updates at all.

You're also ignoring that this model doesn't fracture the playerbase. Know what happened when I bought Super Street Fighter 4 for the new characters and my buddy stuck with the base Street Fighter 4? We couldn't play online together as they're different games. Now with SF6, I've bought the extra characters and he hasn't, yet it's still the same base game and we can continue playing together. Please tell me how that's somehow worse for consumers? Especially when he gets all the balance updates, new stages, customisable music playlists and other tweaks for free?

You've also completely ignored the fact that these games are very much feature complete at launch, and are bigger than the old games ever were.

And you've also missed that the fighting game community - you know, the people who actually play these games and do so for hundreds if not thousands of hours - have "wised up" to the fact this model is far better than the old one. And comparing optional DLC that does not negate your day one purchase to broken at launch games is utterly disingenuous.

I loved 9. X was a dissapointment. 11 was... Kinda good. But I stopped caring.

I’ve really enjoyed all the modern mk games. X was kind of a weak point for me personally but I still ran with it. Kameos in the new game are an interesting addition for such a long running franchise but people always just want the same regurgitated bs so of course they were gonna throw a fit. But so it goes, NRS will commit to injustice to spoon feed everyone more super hero crap and they will all eat it up.

@GeeEssEff

Lois Lane.

Finally people got tired of the periodically overpriced DLC milking in a franchise that doesn't need to be.

I still think the graphics in X looked best, more meatier and the hits felt more crunchier 😃

@MrPeanutbutterz Well yeah that's why you buy the Pass to get them at a discount. The option to buy them separate is for those who only want certain characters.

@Burnish1619 Its roster is awful, its lacking in content, its story is focused on characters no one cares for and the gameplay is just a better version of MK9 a game whose fighting system was nothing great to begin with. Injustice 2 on wards is when NRS started putting out good fighting gameplay and even to this day its still behind the likes of Tekken and Street Fighter and such. MKX is a good game but it was carried hard by the DLC.

So what? Aren't 35 characters enough? The game is already starting to feel like old news at this point. I'd gladly be ready to move on to whatevers next. Injustice 3 perhaps or maybe a fighter fully dedicated to guest characters so they don't have to flood the roster of MK with them?

I'm so tired of eagerly awaiting more dlc characters only to find out that they'll be from something other than the Mortal kombat series. What's next Terrifier, chucky, Buffy the vampire slayer?

Enough already! When did MK stop being MK?

Can't wait for MK 2! 🤦‍♂️

Think I'll just stick with 9, 10, and 11

@PsBoxSwitchOwner @MrPeanutbutterz It's really just two different mindsets at play here.

On one hand, yes, not having to "wait" for characters for a new game release is nice. It keeps people engaged and the game "fresh" (and allows the developer to make more money on DLC).

But on the hand, why not just wait to release the game with all the characters available and make them secret unlockable characters (remember the days when characters needed to be unlocked)?

I personally prefer option 2, but, to each their own (plus, publishers want that extra coin).

@PuppetMaster is actually prefer it this way, I don't need a game to be around for years. I'm not looking for yearly sports game incremental upgrades, but every 3 or so years a new game, new mechanics.

I'd rather that then $50 for a crappy story and a few underwhelming characters.

@GamingFan4Lyf I’d love to go back to unlockables, cheats on completion and so forth. I miss those things.

I just find it baffling that people are happy to be fleeced for character dlc at £30 a pop, multiple times over a few years. On top of a full purchase. Where an alternative could be one full price game, then 3-4yrs later a new game.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner It's like you're deliberately ignoring everything I wrote before - those old games with character unlocks usually have a smaller roster than the current base games. So the game you're whining about being incomplete has more content in it than the ones you're holding up as some bastion of content and consumer fairness.

You've also completely ignored where I wrote people will pay money for new characters because they sink hundreds if not thousands of hours into these games.

And the bit where a new game splits the playerbase. Question - how much do you think a new game will be three or four years later?

You know this stuff goes on sale too, right? I can pick up base Street Fighter 6 and fthe first season pass today for less than €50. My own personal playtime with that content clocked 400 hours over the course of a year. But sure, I'm getting fleeced.

@GamingFan4Lyf Because it's not casual people who play a game for a few weeks who are buying these things. It's people who play for years - they're target market for fighting games and the ones who sustain the games long-term.

And gating playable characters behind engaging with the single player is a garbage idea for people running tournaments, or who want to dive in.

Something that also seems to go over people's heads - unlockable characters of old were frequently just model/palette swaps. Like have you played Tekken 2 recently? King, Armour King, Rodger, and
Alex are all effectively one character. Jack-2, Ganyru, P-Jack, and Kuma are all basically the same character as well. Kazuya/Devil/Angel are all the same too. In fact, I think the only truly unique unlockable character in Tekken 2 is Bruce.

That twenty-somethijg strong roster shrinks considerably when the reality is taken into account.

@MrPeanutbutterz Such is your preference.

I'm allowed to prefer my games be one way, and you, yours.

People are still putting hours upon hours into Smash Bros. Melee and it was pre-DLC. Heck, there are whole tournaments surrounding the game.

Marvel vs. Capcom 2 community still exists. No DLC.

Heck, EVO still supports Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. No DLC.

So, it's not like anyone is wrong for liking fighting games that don't have DLC characters, just like there are people who like it.

@GamingFan4Lyf None of that negates the reality of the fighting game market in 2024 - it's not an either/or scenario.

Plus you've kinda deflated your own point there - sure, Third Strike is still supported at EVO. But New Generation isn't, and neither is Second Impact/Giant Attack. It's the third interation of SF3; effectively the "all DLC included" version of it.

I beat the story mode in MK1 and messed around with other modes for a few days after that before getting bored and never going back. First time for an MK game. I LOVED MK11, but this one just didn't resonate with me for some reason.

Is it time to go back to remakes of MK1,2 and 3 with sweet new digitized graphics? Or just a better compilation of the old games? This team needs a new engine and a new IP to work on.

It's the story expansion adding krazy added cost which is just not worth it. They need to just stick to seasonal kharacter passes like other fighting games do, that's where the money is.

Well if they charged the DLC at a reasonable price rather than the cost of the full game they probably would've sold more.

WB seem to have it in their heads that games as a service are the way forward (despite the huge profits made from Hogwarts Legacy and the poor sales of Suicide Squad and MK) and then completely miss the mark on how much their in game micro transactions and DLC is worth. It's almost as if they do no market research whatsoever.

Honestly Im so dissapointed with MK1, easily one of the worst in all of MK history, I dropped off and deleted within 10 days, the trash they replaced the Krypt with was, def a choice and I never gelled with the cameo stuff, and then the insane grinding to upgrade each character and cameo. NO THANKS.

MK X slander in these comments? Absolutely not, played the crap out of that game for years. MK needs to go away for a good 4/5 years, give people a break from it.

Hmmm gee golly willikers I can't imagine why 🤔

Maybe release it as a full game instead of dragging it out? Just a thought

The monetisation of this game has been beyond obscene from the very start at absolutely every single level.

All the skins issued as rewards for playing the new mode were deliberately bland in order to promote ludicrously priced nostalgia skins available in the shop for example.

It’s literally sickening what they did to a hugely beloved franchise. Does it surprise me people have grown tired of their excessive money grabbing? Of course not! Absolute disgrace.

Are some of these comments from fighting game fans or MK exclusive fighting game fans? Some of the critiques that are directed toward MK1 could be applied to most fighting games on the market. Every fighting game has pricey character DLC, and if you can wait for a month you can get it usually on sale. Character DLC keeps people coming back to the game and is just a part of all fighting games period. Tekken, SF, Soul calibur, GG strive, King of fighters, heck even super smash bros has character dlc. The monetization of skins is ridiculous though.

MK1 gameplay is leaps and bounds better than MK11. I think the negativity surrounding MK1 gameplay is around kameos and percieved difficulty using them but if you spent more than 20 minutes in practice mode you would realize its not that hard and that the kameo system creates super interesting gameplay.

And the people complaining about single player content, fair enough if you didn't like the story but there is a lot of content to churn through if you want. The references to SF6 world tour mode is a bit laughable, the only interesting part of the mode is the cutscenes and the rest of it is incredibly boring, BUT the gameplay and online is amazing! Fighting games are meant to be played online and once casual MK fans realize this they will enjoy and appreciate the gameplay a lot more.

I bought it day one for the story mode. Never got around to starting it, it’s still factory sealed sitting on my shelf. Then the story expansion came. So I just thought I’d wait for the Ultimate Edition. Maybe it will be sooner now.

I’m not a fan of the way fighting games are done these days. It’s just spread out over way too many years. Content pack 78 coming 48 months after release. It’s also so confusing about what you get when they offer single packs and season passes. Some things included in season passes, some things aren’t.

I think I’ve got 3 or more versions of Street Fighter 4 and 5. Multiple Mortal Kombat X and 11. I absolutely loved Street Fighter 6, but haven’t spent a single penny on DLC and I’ve lost track of what they’ve offered.

I’d rather they bombarded you for a year with DLC then offered a complete edition a year later. I know they won’t for money reasons but still, that’s what I would prefer if they have to make money on DLC.

Hmmm, for the next MK to be successful, they need to have 89 characters, with half of them needing to be tediously unlocked, and then have zero DLC because we DON'T WANT ANY MORE CHARACTERS!!

Big MK fan here since playing the first on Sega Genesis. Never missed an entry, but this didn't feel "essential" for me and I passed on it. I was even there day one for the crapfest that was MK4 and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe so yeah you know I got some baggage with this series.

Here's the thing for me: there's a lot of content (kontent?) in these games and I just got fatigued. Couple that with the DLC fighters don't seem to fit the MK mold, an emphasis on microtransactions, and a pretty phoned-in alternate reality spin that takes the punch out of any and all story consequences (Yes, I actually play these games for the story, God help me 😆).

The internal hardcore MK community is brutal on this game for extreme balance issues and the lackluster adventure mode. There is an unusually narrow meta of I believe three characters to be competitive online for anyone who isn't superbly skilled enough to play the others. Which is the main issue I see among the uber-faithful MK fans. I think this game - as compared to MK9, MKX, and MKXI - has a serious longevity problem on its hands and people are bailing quick.

Further, for the people not fussed with balance issues or who don't play online, I think the story has been spinning it's wheels too long on alternate timeline / time travel quasi reboot storylines and the extra characters and overall character design absolutely do not grab me.

I believe a hefty amount moved on for Tekken 8, as I did.

Not shocked at all. Gameplay is pretty good imo but outside of that MK12 (MK1) is just a disappointment in almost everything else.

I'll just stick with MK9, 10/X, and 11 right now. In the meantime NRS should just work on Injustice 3 if they're not on it already.

Way to go people, vote with your wallet!

Next, stop buying day 1 and wait till the discounted "Definitive Edition"