One of the many gaming trends that gamers are tired of is DLC and certain other “live service” offerings that are priced way too high for what they actually offer. We’ve seen this many times over, and it’s always curious when dev teams, especially ones that have had great success in the past, decide to “reach” quite a bit to make some more money. In the case of Mortal Kombat 1, it had fair sales upon launch and is now over 4 million units sold. So, when its first major DLC, Khaos Reigns, arrived, many wondered what it would be like and how well it would sell.
Ed Boon himself said at the unveiling of the story expansion and second Kombat Pack of characters that it would be the first of “many years” of content. However, that might have been a bit presumptuous, for on Reddit, a reliable insider is saying that all future DLC plans are hereby canceled!
The reveal comes from insider “Fate Unknown,” who has been verified on Reddit as a true insider and not just one who spews out random “news” trying to get attention. In the comments of the post, he claims that Khaos Reigns sold poorly, and as such, NetherRealm Studios isn’t going to go forward with any more DLC.
While many Reddit fans were sad about this news, others weren’t surprised at all. First, the DLC itself was $50 at launch, which basically made it the price of a full game, despite it only being a story expansion with six new characters, only three of which were available at the DLC’s launch. Just as important, the story of Khaos Reigns wasn’t that well received, and that made the price even more egregious.
Now, to be fair, it could be that another story expansion doesn’t arrive, but a third Kombat Pack could. After all, even if people don’t like the story, most are always eager to try new characters. That goes double when you recall that the two remaining characters in the current Kombat Pack are Conan The Barbarian and the T-1000 Terminator. If interest in those brings players back, NetherRealm Studios has options on what to do next.
That being said, Mortal Kombat 1 as a whole was seen as a misstep by many. As noted, it sold about 4 million in a year, only slightly over a third of what its predecessor sold. If NetherRealm doesn’t fix things soon, one has to wonder how well its next game will do.
