This story is hilarious for us to talk about, given the “event” that the story started at. First, a little context. All Elite Wrestling is one of the biggest wrestling promotions in the world, and it is also one of the best wrestling promotions in the world. Their fanbase has a passion to them that can’t be denied, and that passion goes beyond wrestling and into the realm of video games. To that end, many AEW fans have been known to bring in signs with their “controversial” video game hot takes. But on Sunday, a Mortal Kombat 1 used their sign to make a plea to the team at NetherRealm Studios, and specifically, Ed Boon.
As you can see in the tweet below, the fans called for a Wi-Fi filter to be put into Mortal Kombat 1, and the sign was seen very visibly at the All Elite Wrestling PPV called Full Gear.
For those who don’t know what that is, a Wi-Fi filter feature can help those with wired internet setups not play those who play via Wi-Fi. That may sound like a small feature, but when you consider how laggy certain Wi-Fi connections can be and the randomness of matchmaking, you sometimes need that “stability.” Yes, it’s hilarious that they went to an AEW event to get their message across, but sometimes, you must use what’s available to you, right?
The irony is that their attempt worked. Not only did it get the attention of other fans, but other publications saw the sign and wrote about it. Those articles got the attention of Ed Boon, who had this to say last night:
A key detail within that tweet is that the Wi-Fi filter will come before Cross-Play, a feature gamers have wanted since launch. On the one hand, it’s fair for NetherRealm Studios to want to “get it right” and ensure that it works for all systems and platforms. On the other hand, Cross-Play is a “natural” kind of thing to have at launch, and it’s been months since launch with no such feature.
However, that isn’t the only thing on NetherRealm Studios’ mind, as they’ve been dealing with various issues within their fighting title despite the critical acclaim and sales. For example, the microtransactions they’ve been doing have gotten them tons of heat. Plus, the Nintendo Switch version was incredibly “dumbed down” at launch, drawing many’s ire.
Hopefully, the company will sort all this out. But how long it takes to do so is anyone’s guess.
