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Rumors and speculation are a key part of the video game industry, even if developers and publishers aren’t exactly “thrilled” when these reports come about their games. Last week, we talked about how a key and accurate insider reported that Mortal Kombat 1 was in serious trouble. By that, we refer to how the “Khaos Reigns” DLC event wasn’t the most well-received DLC ever and that sales of it were incredibly small, leading to little profit being made, if any was made at all. As such, the rumor/report stated that the upcoming “Year Three” DLC that had been planned was canceled.
That was a blow to both many fans and potentially NetherRealm Studios. Ed Boon had noted at San Diego Comic-Con when the “Year Two” content was announced that Mortal Kombat 1 would feature “many years” of extra content to keep the game going. Many were intrigued by that, especially due to how the game embraced the multiverse for the first time and thus gave way to many potential stories to be told. However, now, many wonder if any of these stories will be told at all.
Over on Blue Sky, someone posted about the leaks over the weekend and noted that they hoped everyone at NetherRealm Studios was okay, and Ed Boon replied via this post:
While it does not acknowledge what’s allegedly happening, it does mean something overall. After all, he didn’t have to respond to this at all, and since he did, and he didn’t deny anything like, “Thanks for the kind words, but everything’s fine here,” you have to wonder if some credence has been given to the rumors.
As for why the “Khaos Reigns” DLC failed, there are multiple things that fans point to. The first one is the price. To get the DLC, you’re buying the entire Kombat Pack, which means the storyline and the six additional characters, only three of which were available at launch. All told it was $60, and that was a bit too much for fans. After all, that was basically the price of the initial game, and now they were paying that much to get a story expansion and a few new characters.
Second, the game’s story wasn’t the best, and many weren’t amused with the new origins of certain characters like Noob Saibot. Gamers also blasted that this is another price to pay when the game had numerous microtransactions going on that tried to further siphon players.
When you add that all up, you can understand why sales were minimal and why the next wave of DLC might not get developed.
