Mortal Kombat has been a staple of fighting games for decades running. Older players may remember it being one of the reasons the ESRB was created. Spanning 11 entries, the series continues on. Now, much to the delight of fans worldwide, a twelfth entry seems to be on the horizon. Even better, it seems the release of Mortal Kombat 12 may be right around the corner. Here’s what we know so far.
Warner Bros Announces Mortal Kombat 12 in Earnings Call
During the fourth-quarter earnings call for Warner Bros., the president of the company David Zaslav mentions two specific games when speaking: Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Mortal Kombat 12.
Here you go Brusk pic.twitter.com/GYqRd8CZt4
— Al¹³ (@Aluminum54) February 23, 2023
This announcement came as a surprise to a lot of people. That’s because developer NetherRealm normally doesn’t release two entries in a row. Previous years have shown NetherRealm to release Mortal Kombat, then a new version of its DC fighting game Injustice.
However, this will be the first year that the company will release two of the same series in a row. This is following on the heels of 2019’s MK11 and its expansion Aftermath.
While this seems like something NetherRealm wouldn’t normally do, this could have been a choice thanks to Suicide Squad coming out this year from Rocksteady. With both Suicide Squad and Injustice being DC games, Warner Bros. may have not wanted competition between both games. Developing another Mortal Kombat to go with Suicide Squad would be a good business move, as consumers wouldn’t have to choose between two DC games in 2023.
However, this is merely speculation. NetherRealm hasn’t officially annouced Mortal Kombat 12 to the masses yet. What that said, co-creator of the series Ed Boon has made cheeky remarks about the earnings call.
Posted onto Twitter the day of the call Ed Boon tweeted out joking that their next game would be “Injustice 3” referencing the company’s previous track record of releases.
However, fans knew something Mortal Kombat was coming down the pipeline as early as April of 2022. That’s because Johnny Cage’s voice actor Andrew Bowen made a tweet with a video of him on the Warner Bros. lot.
The only thing fans are waiting for now is an official announcement from NetherRealm. Hopefully, we’ll get an announcement for Shaolin Monks 2 as well.