Mortal Kombat creator says 30th anniversary is the main focus, new game ‘in due time’

Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon says the announcement of his studio’s next fighting game will have to wait until 30th aniversary celebrations are over.

Boon explained on Twitter that while he understood fans were anxious to hear about the next NetherRealm Studios game announcement, the studio would be focusing on the 30th anniversary of Mortal Kombat first.

“We know a lot of you are excited about the next NetherRealm Studios game announcement and it will happen in due time,” Boon said.

“But first it’s all about 30 years of Mortal Kombat. That’s what we’re going to celebrate and focus on. Our next game announcement will be separate from MK30.”

The original Mortal Kombat made its arcade debut on October 8, 1992 and quickly gained popularity for its digitised fighters and controversial Fatality finishing moves.

The latest game in the series, Mortal Kombat 11, was released in 2019, with a DLC expansion called Aftermath released the following year.

Boon and NetherRealm have been tight-lipped when it comes to details of its next game, to the extent that it isn’t even clear that it will be a Mortal Kombat title.

Speculation suggested that NetherRealm’s next game would be the third in its Injustice series of DC super hero fighting games.

However, journalist Jeff Grubb claimed last year that NetherRealm was instead prioritising Mortal Kombat 12 due to uncertainty over its future with parent company WB Games.

Further reading

Johnny Cage actor may be teasing the next Mortal Kombat game

Mortal Kombat 12 is reportedly in development at NetherRealm

“It lines up with the reality and it lines up with what I’ve heard, where Mortal Kombat 12 would make the most sense because that’s a game they know will make money, it will sell well,” Grubb said at the time.

Earlier this year, the actor behind Johnny Cage appeared to tease that he was recording new material for the fighting game series.

In a now-deleted tweet, Andrew Bowen, who portrayed Cage in Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11, posted a video revealing that he was at the Warner Bros. lot.