Mortal Kombat 1: Definitive Edition was announced earlier this week. Acquiring Mortal Kombat 1: Definitive Edition will give players access to Mortal Kombat 1’s base game, Kombat Pack 1, the Khaos Reigns story expansion, Kombat Pack 2, and the new movie skins.
Fans will be able to pick up Mortal Kombat 1: Definitive Edition on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC for $69.99. The Switch version is a little cheaper as it’s going for $59.99.
Overall, this is a pretty good deal for those that have yet to buy Mortal Kombat 1. We’ll likely see an influx of players in the coming days due to the release of the Definitive Edition package.
However, most longtime fans of NetherRealm Studios games will probably see this as bad news for the future of Mortal Kombat 1. More specifically, it’s a heavy indicator that Mortal Kombat 1 no longer has a future.
Similar situations happened with the releases of Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition, Mortal Kombat XL and Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate for Mortal Kombat 9, Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11 respectively.
Each of these rereleases packaged all available post-launch content that had been released up to that point. This also meant that NetherRealm Studios would be releasing no additional DLC for that game as they had moved on to their next project.
Last time with Mortal Kombat 11, NetherRealm Studios had to outright confirm that DLC had concluded and that the company had moved on to their next project. We now know that project was Mortal Kombat 1 all along.
“So we were pretty sure when we launched Mortal Kombat 1 that we were going to be doing years of content, and this is year two.” — Ed Boon
In some regards, it is somewhat disappointing to learn that this is actually the end of new DLC for Mortal Kombat 1. Shortly after the reveal of Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns, Ed Boon mentioned more plans for the game’s future.
“With Mortal Kombat 11, we had Mortal Kombat 11, Aftermath, and then Ultimate,” said Boon on the subject. “So we would keep adding characters and story.”
NetherRealm Studios had this practice where they’d manage to create more and more content with additional game releases. Mortal Kombat X had more DLC than Mortal Kombat 9 while Mortal Kombat 11 had more than Mortal Kombat X.
“That’s kind of the way we’re doing our games now,” continued Boon. “So we were pretty sure when we launched Mortal Kombat 1 that we were going to be doing years of content, and this is year two.”
Looking back, this feels more like a hope from Ed Boon rather than a promise, especially since he mentioned that NetherRealm Studios was “pretty sure” that they’d “be doing years of content.”
However, it’s important to note that Mortal Kombat 1 was originally released on September 14, 2023. Sadly, this means that Mortal Kombat 1 experienced less than two years of post-launch content, so it would be more accurate to say that this was “season two” for Mortal Kombat 1.
Ultimately though, Mortal Kombat 1 ended up having the same number of DLC characters as Mortal Kombat 11 (13 for both if the pre-order bonus characters Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung both count). Of course, it can be argued that Mortal Kombat 1’s six additional Kameo Fighters pushes it a little further.
At this point, it hasn’t been outright confirmed that there will be no more DLC for Mortal Kombat 1, but considering NetherRealm Studios’ history of doing this with previous games, it feels like a final nail in the coffin for any hopes. NetherRealm Studios may not even feel the need to make such an announcement this time due to how fans reacted to the news.
“It’s not like when we finish a game, we go ‘What are we going to do next?’ we decided what we were going to do a long time ago.” — Ed Boon
Regardless, this news actually isn’t all that surprising despite the weird timing. After all, we previously heard from alleged insiders that Kombat Pack 3 was planned at one point, but had been canceled.
This was apparently the direct result of the poor performance of the Khaos Reigns update. Had it sold better, we likely wouldn’t be getting the Definitive Edition package just yet, and Ed Boon’s statement “years of content” would’ve turned out to be true.
The characters that we heard about included Jade, Cassie, Kung Jin, Sonya, Kano and one last guest. We even saw an incomplete render of Kung Jin for Mortal Kombat 1, which seemingly added additional validity to these rumors.
With all of that said, we’ve already heard from Ed Boon himself that NetherRealm Studios has already planned out their next game for a long time now.
“It’s not like when we finish a game, we go ‘What are we going to do next?’ we decided what we were going to do a long time ago,” once said Boon on the matter.
Could it finally be time for that Mortal Kombat remastered collection? According to Boon, it’s a matter of “when” and not “if” that collection will ever happen.
“One day the stars are going to align and we’re going to make that happen,” concluded Boon about that.
We’ll just have to wait and see what’s next for Mortal Kombat and for NetherRealm Studios in general.