According to an industry insider, Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm Studios is focusing on Mortal Kombat 12 as its next game – rather than DC Comics fighting game sequel Injustice 3, as most fans are expecting, thanks to the ongoing problems at Warner Bros.
NetherRealm confirmed back in July that it had finally ceased working on Mortal Kombat 11 and there would be no more content updates for the game, as the studio was moving on to its next project. This was assumed to be Injustice 3, given how NetherRealm has alternated between the Mortal Kombat and Injustice series since 2011.
However, according to industry insider Jeff Grubb (thanks, VGC) on the Giant Bomb channel, NetherRealm is instead going straight to Mortal Kombat 12 as its next game rather than Injustice 2 or even the rumoured Marvel game. “Mortal Kombat 12 would make the most sense because that’s a game they know will make money, it’ll sell well,” Grubb says. “That’s what I’ve heard is happening… it lines up with the reality and it lines up with what I’ve heard.”
Grubb states this is due to the ongoing problems with Warner Bros, which is being merged with Discovery. “WB is sort of falling apart in front of our eyes, where who knows where NetherRealm’s going to be next year,” Grubb states. Therefore, it doesn’t “make sense” for the studio to make a game using a Warner Bros licence like DC Comics when the developers don’t know if it will be part of Warner Bros for much longer.
While Grubb has called things successfully in the past – most recently with the Dead Space reboot from EA Motive – It should be pointed out that Warner Bros has refuted this on several levels – the publisher has stated that it’s not getting rid of DC Comics or NetherRealm, and if anything is doubling down on both. NetherRealm was actually thanked in the end credits of this month’s DC movie The Suicide Squad, so there’s still a strong connection between the two. The big DC ‘Fandome’ event is October, so if Injustice 3 is getting announced soon it may happen there.