NetherRealm Studios has been quiet about its next project for some time. There has been plenty of speculation about what that title could be as there have been reports pointing to Mortal Kombat 12, rumors that allege it is creating a Marvel fighting game, and patterns that imply a third Injustice title. However, a recent tweet from NetherRealm’s senior production manager seems to imply that the team is going with another Mortal Kombat.
Jonathan Andersen, also known as Jandy, tweeted the above image with the caption “Old desk art.” The seemingly innocuous tweet was quickly deleted and captured on some sites like ResetEra as users looked past said old desk art an onto the monitor in the upper right.
When zooming in, it looks like there two files with the names “MK12_Mast…” and another with “Reptile.” The rest seem unrelated (like the “dinosaur” one), but both of those two have obvious ties to Mortal Kombat. Reptile, for example, was sorely missed in Mortal Kombat 11 as he only appeared in the Krypt and was one of the few iconic fighters to not have a slot in that recent entry.
Even though Andersen wiped the tweet pretty quickly, some are saying that this “leak” was on purpose. The other part of the monitor appears to be a portion of an email saying how “[their] fans eagerly scrape the internet for any trace” before being cut off and finishing with a request to “take extra care with this material.” This is likely a reference to how astute Mortal Kombat fans are and how often they read through anything tangentially related to the game as a hint to the next DLC pack, character, or game. Series Co-Creator Ed Boon sometimes even has to tell fans that his tweets are not teases, even though he is notorious for his playful attitude on the platform. This email placement is ironic if not on purpose and is why some are having a hard time believing that this was an accident or if it is even real at all.
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NetherRealm has not confirmed what it is working on as it has deviated from its original cycle of releasing a game every other year. Boon said in December 2021 that he did “appreciate the enthusiasm” for the next game and wishes he could announce it, but they are just not ready yet. He even ominously stated there were many “more variables involved than [they] are allowed to disclose.”
Games Beat’s Jeff Grubb reported that the developer is making Mortal Kombat 12 because of uncertainty surrounding Warner Bros. NetherRealm’s established pattern would dictate that an Injustice game was on the way, but that uncertainty would explain the hesitation that would come when working on a game with DC Comics characters.
An unconfirmed rumor that spread across Reddit also alleged that the studio was making Mortal Kombat 12 and that it would be more like an expanded version of Mortal Kombat 11 with all of the same arenas and characters from the most recent trilogy. However, that post also stated that the game would be announced at the Game Awards, which did not happen. A compilation game would make more sense, given the pivot suggested by Grubb, but that specific thread has some holes in it. However, NetherRealm (or Midway Games as it was known before Midway’s collapse) has previously created a best-of compilation-esque game after the other two Mortal Kombat trilogies — Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon — which gives a small amount of credence to the idea.
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The series is also about to hit its 30th anniversary in 2022, so it isn’t out of the question that NetherRealm would be celebrating the occasion in some special way. But it remains to be seen how the studio would honor that milestone.
