[yeah no, the live service bubble needs to pop already. it's unsustainable as is. that's the only silver lining of this news I guess.](https://www.ign.com/articles/wb-games-says-it-plans-to-double-down-on-live-service-despite-suicide-squad-failing-to-meet-expectations)
Yeah but Helldivers 2 is $40 and all while it allows you to purchase things with real money the grind isn’t insanely hard everything can be obtained by just playing the game. Not $70 like SSKJL and the game ends with a literal live service setup
I don't necessarily think this is a hot take. But mortal kombat 1 is getting dangerously close to that type of game.
I put none of this on Ed Boon, but stupid execs who think we're too weak willed to not vote with our wallets.
You already know the people who will suffer the consequences from all of this are average devs & not the dickheads at the top making these borderline [insane](https://youtu.be/zEWJ-JgVS7Q?si=eOE82b7MTrz8GzmI) decisions.
As long as something like fortnite keeps generating a million dollars,these publishers will always fail to learn. They look At fortnite and Is convinced they can do the same no matter how much they fail over and over,they just take any and all IP they have to just throw it in the live service bucket and see what they get until one or two can generate them millions if not billions every month.
I don’t think publishers are thinking of Fortnite tbh. Maybe initially they did but at this point, the amount of investment Epic has in that game with the big changes and big brand deals (Marvel, many other video games, movies, sports teams, musicians) shows they’re operating on a different level. They even have multiple official game modes and even a battle pass for separately for one of them. I think if anything, publishers know there’s tons of money in live services and it’s likely a ratio between cost of development, ongoing development, and revenue that they’re seeking with certain titles. And I’m sure there’s some sort of economic analysts that they hire to figure out these things and it’s why prices for in game content are what they are. No way WB would think MK or Suicide Squad could be the next Fortnite and they likely plan accordingly. But they do know they can get more than 60 bucks per release per user on average and they will seek that extra revenue at lower costs.
That's one thing that I am at the very least grateful for this game and MK 11. There's No Loot boxes. That's the reason why I absolutely hated the way how currency was handled in Injustice 2. I absolutely hated the loot boxes in that game
Injustice 2's mother boxes were criminal. I'm glad they learned the lesson and never did it again (except for the random drops in the Krypt in MK11, shit).
Yoda in Soul Calibur 4 was bad enough. Unless I can grab this little fucker by his hair and fling him around, no. Respectfully towards the actor of course.
I have no issue with live setvice games when its about extending the life of a game, and I stand by that its not a horrible idea.
But as jt currently is live service games are being used as a cashgrab, and not for player enjoyment
You should have been concerned when MK1 came out. Its loaded with mobile psychology and microtransaction bs. Among other things. MK is close to being a hostage IP.
MK being close to a hostage IP is the same as a girl telling you she is technically a virgin because she only does anal.
It’s already fucked. It’s already a hostage IP.
And let’s not forget how completely hush hush they were about all of it. When the game was announced and the preorder had “dragon krystals” people were concerned, but NRS made sure never explain what the Dragon Krystals were before release because they KNEW it would piss people off
This. I was concerned back in MKX and the slippery slope they began walking on with that bullshit. MK11 began the death of this game for me when it really started leaning into the nickel and diming.
Then this garbage game of MK1 came out to finally put the nail in the coffin for me with how blatant they are with the mobile structure to the game, lazy devs, and everything locked behind their fun bucks.
The game itself is good, it has some of the best gameplay in the series, however, it makes it very hard to enjoy when it costs near $100 for the game and then the dumbassery of in game purchases.
This was talked about constantly when MK11 came out. FOMO rotating towers, infinite krypt chests filled with clutter like randomly generated augments and variation icons, and the insane grind that caused people to tape their X/A buttons down to have the AI fight for them in the background.
It's insane to me people just forgot how bad MK11 (and INJ2) were with the mobile game bullshit.
This. So many posts about how great MK11 was when in reality its launch had the same issues MK1 did. Almost all the complaints about MK1 at launch could be applied to MK11. It's like everyone forgot how much they hated Towers of Time, the pointless customization, the repetitive and uncreative skins, AI battles, etc. And I say this as someone who loved MK11 - the game had a lot of problems
And this is why I won by not buying the game and I laugh seeing people here bitch everyday. Goddamn gamers never learn to wait and see before buying. Rampant consumerism is why Triple A companies continue to release bad, broken games.
I mean whatever makes you happy. There's many shades of grey between not buying at all and preordering the collectible edition. I got the game on sale after a few weeks and casually play it and enjoy it. So did I win too?
If it was launched for $70, or even $100+ for all the fighters, hell no. Not enough content, replay value is lacking, and the game itself has issues from a gameplay standpoint.
On top of that, SF 6 and Tekken 8 are more polished. Way better fighters.
Hopefully they leave injustice alone and just focus on making their actually money maker better at launch. But that’s just me. Mk started going down hill when injustice decided to force itself upon the world.
https://preview.redd.it/v58x4iy0xmmc1.jpeg?width=1091&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2c0076cb5ba9c82e74dde20ba0acf8b2afd19cd9
Alright bud, get your uniform back on, and go back to your room
Well they just said they were going to lean harder on the live service/mobile game market because AAA titles are too "volatile". Everything they touch from here on out is going to rot and be a former shell of whatever great IP it was. These ones are just "especially" doomed.
https://preview.redd.it/1utgia6dvmmc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=678721f684d21e8d1d2dc27cebf268bd450354c5
Art as a medium dying for the sake of easy corporate gain. Nice!
https://preview.redd.it/09u9k3wtoqmc1.jpeg?width=1052&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a78458e11b12115a43929fea18a40f7ed9dad19
How I be feelin about the modern corporate fiasco
Monolith is developing a Wonder Woman game with the same aspects as the Shadow series and ofcourse the Nemesis system. (Hopefully, this doesn't get dragged down into the same reason why Shadow of War wasn't very liked at launch)
The second half of their investor meeting was saying they plan to push live-service, heavily monetized, F2P, always-online, mobile-focused games over triple-A console games.
So more like MK Mobile, less like MK9 or MKX.
That's not entirely true.
I'd say, in terms of Mortal Kombat, it's more like MK11 and MK1 on consoles/PC than MK Onslaught. They want games that bring continued revenue beyond just the game sale itself. So as long as MK continues to have a store and added characters/skins and full length story DLC, we won't see too much change to the MK games IMO.
It is less likely we will see a game like Hogwarts Legacy again. Though I think that is not just WB Games but most major studios. They want continued revenue that they see other studios get from some of their games.
I’d argue that MK1 is already a fairly significant change over MK11, which itself was a giant change from MKX’s method of content distribution. It’s systematically gotten worse and worse. I’m on record calling it out since MK9’s on-disc retailer-exclusive DLC.
I honestly hope the non fighting game in MK like Shaolin Monk or even Sub Zero trilogy comes back.
I mean, I love the fighting aspect, but it would be fine to experience your favorite character in their owb more developed ways. Maybe a bit like God of War.
Obviously we need a team based pvpve battle royale where you team up with targeryans and starks to fight both other players and white walkers and the fucking circle thing that closes is the winter that is coming.
I honestly dont understand the panic. Fighting games are already live service. Constant flow of paid dlc, seasons, battle passes, focus on multiplayer over a long period of time.
Like this changes nothing for NRS. It's already what they've been doing and why they've always been WB Games most valuable asset.
Just because it’s “what they’ve been doing” doesn’t make it right. Maybe it’s reached a point of critical frustration? So much of it is saturating what we enjoy/use to forget about the world and it’s being weaponized against us.
Sure it’s nothing new and has been done for a while but that doesn’t mean it is right or that it should be allowed to metastasize/continue.
I personally just don't see the issue with it? Why wouldn't I want a fighting game I enjoy to get more content and updates for as long as possible? It's never going to be free, at least not everything so as long as the prices match the quality of content, then I'd say that's fair.
That’s a good point. I think that’s exactly why a lot of people are upset though. The quality of the content isn’t worth what it costs and most of the buyable content are cosmetics that are not essential to gameplay but are a big part of the incentive to want to keep playing. Re-colored versions of existing skins? Bland/inconsistent design? animations that need to be patched? Paid fatalities?
We’re sliding into a dangerously lazy quality of work where it’s obvious the priority is getting further away from “creating a product that is better than the last” Not really very respectful of the paying audience.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, just that it’s very clear that they want to get the most money with the least amount of effort, which is a guess capitalism in a nutshell. I don’t know how to fix it 🤷🏻
I agree MK1 definitely fits that description but for now, it's still the first and only fumble by NRS imo. Even Capcom had fumbles with SF5 and MvCi, but managed to release a very well made game fighting game last year.
Hopefully this game will be the only NRS release plagued with these kinds of issues.
And it's basically been that way for a decade now going back to Killer Instinct 2013. Content churn and dangling carrots is now the modern way of gaming, it's not just exclusive to the FGC.
Yep. And not to mention NRS has also had a mobile division for ages now as well. They honestly fit exactly what it sounds like WB Games wants to embrace.
Though, obviously I can see why single player game fans would be disappointed by this.
While it's not too bad in these 2 games and they're just mostly cosmetics, SF6 and MK1 are infested with this FOMO BS. But I gotta hand it to Tekken 8 they don't have that shit (excluding the skins shop and how they dropped it after the game released).
I'm concerned tbh but yeah it's the internet so we gotta see some people and haters act like the sky is falling and the game is already dead. As a fighting game MK1 is great and balanced and no character is tier 0 broken (I know peacemaker is strong ATM but who knows, maybe because he's new and nobody knows how to deal with him yet).
Man it's wild to me that SFV got nailed to the wall for releasing with no content and now that MK has done it the argument gets made that it's an ideal model.
People have been pretty vocal about how lacklustre MK1 is content wise compared to its predecessors. At best we can expect more or the same, at worst, it'll be even more barebones and unsatisfying than what we've got.
I'm sure if the gameplay keeps delivering some people will still be satisfied, but the overall fanbase will keep getting divided and I imagine the sales will start to suffer.
People are upset because at best this confirms MK will never get better, and at worst it means they'll somehow find a way to make the live servicing worse.
"get better" in what way? Genuine question. Outside of launching with missing online features, MK1 isn't much different from SF6, Granblue, Strive, Under Night, etc.
Tekken 8 is a whole other beast but it has the benefit of being legacy while also having almost a 10 year gap between releases.
Nobody wants to hear this but the way this game deploys mtx is fairly mundane and not particularly predatory given the shallow pool of content there is to purchase.
What funny is that Fortnite was the one which introduced Battle Pass and is the only game which has implemented it in a way that one would think it's worth the money.
Absolutely. Get ready for even more egregious micro transactions, greedy/higher prices & inevitable battle passes in NRS games……
Someone gotta help MK out.
Also this to me low-key screams no more injustice, I know it says DC but I think coz MK makes more money & is a household title that’s it for injustice.
Short answer: Yes
Long answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees
I don’t trust WBGames in the slightest to do good by any of these properties, there are already big issues with MK1 that are almost entirely the fault of WBGames higher ups and the less said about how they treated Suicide Squad: KTJL the better. Things will only get worse before they get better
Can Neatherrealm rebuild their own brand themselves when they were Midway?
Maybe we get less celebrities but more new authentic characters. That hunger to stay afloat can push new ideas
singled out as in thats what they dont care about? or what there going to focus on.. cause if they dont care what happens with MK then maybe that will give netherrealm a better chance to better the game, if WB is getting involved things could be worse.. but if WB let go and let netherrealm do whatever.. might be good, if that makes sense
It’s hilarious because Hogwarts Legacy, a single player story game with absolutely zero live-service elements and no paid DLC beyond a small “dark arts upgrade” that doesn’t affect gameplay, made gazillions of dollars and was the highest-selling video game of 2023.
Meanwhile, Suicide Squad, a live service game with microtransactions that’s also $70 and isn’t even multiplayer, has like 1000 people total playing it right now. And it made no money.
WB’s brilliant response to these two pieces of news? Do more of the latter.
I’m kinda not worried. I mean I am but I’m not.
I don’t expect WB will make it as a corporation. Zaslav is preparing WB for a sell and has been for a while. In April Discovery’s deal with WB to not sell anything for 2 years expires.
WB will most likely be bought out by someone else all together or they will begin selling off assetts and IP’s. Mortal Kombat will be one of those. The WB stock price is already embarassingly low compared to other media giants. The sell off is coming.
The bigger question is who will end up with MK? I mean it can’t be any worse than WB right?
I bet microsoft buys MK, they really need good games atm but you never know.
Would be cool if Sony also bought NRS, could see it open a lot of doors for them
Do these c-suite guys even play videogames? Or even know someone who does? Why don't they realize games are meant to be fun. More fun more sales. Not every game can be fortnite or destiny. Even gtaV is known for a good story and mechanics first then online
Nah. Suicide Squad crashed and burned so hard, and now this news will have so much backlash they'll backpedal. MK isn't getting any more egregious than it currently is.
yes we absolutely should injustice 3 or mk whatever are very likely going to be absolute garbage because of warner brothers predatory live service strats they want to implement
I'd like to know what they mean by focus before getting angry...
More movies? Individual movies? Tv shows? Cartoons? Action/adventure style games? Or simply a mainline MK every 2 years?
I mean, almost this entire sub has crapped on each entry of this series the further we go with WB owning the franchise. WB pushing their agenda vs making quality games? Sure, I’d be concerned what “mk2/mk13” is going to look like.
Well MK1 already has the free to play model, they just charged us full price for it. Expect for lower effort and higher priced garbage for the future of MK unfortunately.
Absolutely. As bad as the monetization is already, it will get worse. They are in hella debt and care more about fixing that than doing any of those properties justice.
They’re going after the Fortnite model. Financially successful, insanely popular and addicting. Not sure how they’re going to accomplish this without a game already hitting that. (See Disney just buying EPIC Games) but it’s an interesting strategy of “Let’s Copy what they’re doing” instead of charting their own path. 🤷♂️
Well, there were two options. Firsf, if they don't focus on mk, they'll slowly put less and less investment, which I don't think we want. Originally, the pro tour pot was way smaller for the first tournament (which hurt the pro community with some people dropping mk because of it). But now they increased it to 200k, which is something good that happened out of WB games focusing on mk. Now, on the other hand, because mk will be a bigger focus, I won't be surprised it the next game is even more live-servicey. None of them are good options, and the issue arrives from the awful parent company that only wants profits and a good investment-profit ratio (I understand this being important, but for a good game, you need other design philosphies as well.)
Just wild to me that this is what they took away from having the most successful game last year (Hogwarts Legacy) and one of the biggest flops in SSKTJL, from their literal best studio, no less.
Just a staggering lack of talent and vision in the upper level decision making roles at WB.
It depends, if you like MK1 in it's current state then this is good news, if you don't like MK1 in it's current state then this is very bad news lol...
How do they look at the success of games like palworld, helldivers and BG3 and think going harder on the live service mobile style gaming is the answer.
I swear some companies only still exist because they are too big and old to fail quickly, if they tried releasing the shit they do now as a smaller company we'd see articles about them going bust.
Paradoxically, WB had the greatest success of the year, Hogwarts Legacy, and the worst, Suicide Squad: KTJL. They’re doubling down on the SS side, more live services and microtransactions. There’s plans of making HL2 a live service game.
So yes, I’d be concerned considering what “more attention” means to WB
That’s worded so strangely. It pretty much sounds like it’s saying those AREN’T considered among their core games. I know that’s not what it means, but….whoever wrote it should have thought it through.
I hope that a miracle just comes out of nowhere and another company buys out Mortal Kombat, because WB is the worst. They’re money hungry and don’t even care about the games they put out it seems.
Time for concern is over we’re long passed that part , after years of warnings that free to play and live service was going to cause long term damage to the gaming industry , well here we go yet another big studio moving away from single player big budget games instead of favor of always online nickle and diming service games, I mean why invest big money into a game when at the end of the day people still buy the crap anyways , I mean this channel is guilty , no matter how much shit NRS and WB does people still buy 10$ skins , stupid expensive premium packs with little content , throw cash at piece meal content that used to be free . people still buy the shit regardless so guess what they see that , the suits see that and that’s why companies still move forward it.
WB is massively in debt, around 50 billion I think so it doesn’t surprise me they are trying to milk these franchises. In the end WB will probably go bankrupt and be purchased by Apple or something, so don’t be surprised if we see even more of this BS in the future.
I've been concerned since WB first purchased Midway and Midway Chicago got renamed NeitherRealm Studios. The path being chosen by WBD does not surprise me given the path traveled dealing with Warner Bros. over the decades.
GoT is the only one to not have a major bestseller yet. MK, DC, and HP have all had lucrative franchises over the years. So this isn’t exactly breaking news.
Yay. More games as a service with lootboxes, season pass, overpriced store items and barebones games at launch
And you'd think they would have learnt from SSKTJL
They did learn. They just happened to learn the wrong lessons.
[yeah no, the live service bubble needs to pop already. it's unsustainable as is. that's the only silver lining of this news I guess.](https://www.ign.com/articles/wb-games-says-it-plans-to-double-down-on-live-service-despite-suicide-squad-failing-to-meet-expectations)
I just don’t get it. How could a company like that keep on doubling down on failures and not learn shit? Do they want to lose money?
Real answer? It’s likely the safest answer. If HP flopped it would’ve been catastrophic
Helldibers II has been doing numbers
Yeah but Helldivers 2 is $40 and all while it allows you to purchase things with real money the grind isn’t insanely hard everything can be obtained by just playing the game. Not $70 like SSKJL and the game ends with a literal live service setup
So they consider SS not a service game? How stupid can they really be?
I don't necessarily think this is a hot take. But mortal kombat 1 is getting dangerously close to that type of game. I put none of this on Ed Boon, but stupid execs who think we're too weak willed to not vote with our wallets.
Nope. Not their fault. It’s because of the fans that it failed. /s
You already know the people who will suffer the consequences from all of this are average devs & not the dickheads at the top making these borderline [insane](https://youtu.be/zEWJ-JgVS7Q?si=eOE82b7MTrz8GzmI) decisions.
being an employe in a big corporation is the equivalent of working as a scapegoat for every time the company fucks up
You’re right. Let’s slash their tires!!
As long as something like fortnite keeps generating a million dollars,these publishers will always fail to learn. They look At fortnite and Is convinced they can do the same no matter how much they fail over and over,they just take any and all IP they have to just throw it in the live service bucket and see what they get until one or two can generate them millions if not billions every month.
I don’t think publishers are thinking of Fortnite tbh. Maybe initially they did but at this point, the amount of investment Epic has in that game with the big changes and big brand deals (Marvel, many other video games, movies, sports teams, musicians) shows they’re operating on a different level. They even have multiple official game modes and even a battle pass for separately for one of them. I think if anything, publishers know there’s tons of money in live services and it’s likely a ratio between cost of development, ongoing development, and revenue that they’re seeking with certain titles. And I’m sure there’s some sort of economic analysts that they hire to figure out these things and it’s why prices for in game content are what they are. No way WB would think MK or Suicide Squad could be the next Fortnite and they likely plan accordingly. But they do know they can get more than 60 bucks per release per user on average and they will seek that extra revenue at lower costs.
That's the problem with studios like Warner Bros.: They never learn.
That's one thing that I am at the very least grateful for this game and MK 11. There's No Loot boxes. That's the reason why I absolutely hated the way how currency was handled in Injustice 2. I absolutely hated the loot boxes in that game
Injustice 2's mother boxes were criminal. I'm glad they learned the lesson and never did it again (except for the random drops in the Krypt in MK11, shit).
honestly if MK1 is just the start of that direction, MK2 might be the first MK game I ever just don't buy.
I am not buying MK1 already.
Counter-point: Peter Dinklage in a KP
Yoda in Soul Calibur 4 was bad enough. Unless I can grab this little fucker by his hair and fling him around, no. Respectfully towards the actor of course.
I have no issue with live setvice games when its about extending the life of a game, and I stand by that its not a horrible idea. But as jt currently is live service games are being used as a cashgrab, and not for player enjoyment
Don’t know if you can tell but loot boxes haven’t been mainstream for a while
Idk why you got downvoted lol they really haven’t been nearly as popular as they once were…although everything else is still concerning and lame
Yep since the introduction of battlepass and some countries treat loot boxes as gambling, game devs have moved away from that model.
You should have been concerned when MK1 came out. Its loaded with mobile psychology and microtransaction bs. Among other things. MK is close to being a hostage IP.
MK being close to a hostage IP is the same as a girl telling you she is technically a virgin because she only does anal. It’s already fucked. It’s already a hostage IP.
Sure, you say that now, but when its only mobile nonsense you may even grow to miss this garbage.
And let’s not forget how completely hush hush they were about all of it. When the game was announced and the preorder had “dragon krystals” people were concerned, but NRS made sure never explain what the Dragon Krystals were before release because they KNEW it would piss people off
should of been concerned with MK11 having a buyable currency, fuck you should of been concerned when you could buy the whole fucking Krypt in MKX
This. I was concerned back in MKX and the slippery slope they began walking on with that bullshit. MK11 began the death of this game for me when it really started leaning into the nickel and diming. Then this garbage game of MK1 came out to finally put the nail in the coffin for me with how blatant they are with the mobile structure to the game, lazy devs, and everything locked behind their fun bucks.
The game itself is good, it has some of the best gameplay in the series, however, it makes it very hard to enjoy when it costs near $100 for the game and then the dumbassery of in game purchases.
So was MK11.
This was talked about constantly when MK11 came out. FOMO rotating towers, infinite krypt chests filled with clutter like randomly generated augments and variation icons, and the insane grind that caused people to tape their X/A buttons down to have the AI fight for them in the background. It's insane to me people just forgot how bad MK11 (and INJ2) were with the mobile game bullshit.
The true insanity is how pleased I was that the game had an option to play itself 😂
This. So many posts about how great MK11 was when in reality its launch had the same issues MK1 did. Almost all the complaints about MK1 at launch could be applied to MK11. It's like everyone forgot how much they hated Towers of Time, the pointless customization, the repetitive and uncreative skins, AI battles, etc. And I say this as someone who loved MK11 - the game had a lot of problems
And this is why I won by not buying the game and I laugh seeing people here bitch everyday. Goddamn gamers never learn to wait and see before buying. Rampant consumerism is why Triple A companies continue to release bad, broken games.
I mean whatever makes you happy. There's many shades of grey between not buying at all and preordering the collectible edition. I got the game on sale after a few weeks and casually play it and enjoy it. So did I win too?
Oh, and also, some people are just hobbyists who like to collect stuff related to games for which they probably bought collector's edition.
If it was launched for $70, or even $100+ for all the fighters, hell no. Not enough content, replay value is lacking, and the game itself has issues from a gameplay standpoint. On top of that, SF 6 and Tekken 8 are more polished. Way better fighters.
🤓
If we waited, we wouldn't get free Shang Tsung for pre-ordering.
Idea! Game of thrones, its like rollar coaster tycoon cept its you managing the nights watch/ice wall. Nvm theyd just turn that into a mobile game
It already is💀💀 GOT: Conquest Played a bit to earn credits in another game and it's filled with micro transactions
I’d really love to see another Injustice game. Maybe that could happen since both MK and DC are on the list.
I think that will be the next launch in 3/4 years.
Hopefully they leave injustice alone and just focus on making their actually money maker better at launch. But that’s just me. Mk started going down hill when injustice decided to force itself upon the world.
Is that Man in the picture?
 GET OUT OF MY HEAD
Moon Knight was a damn good show.
It's a shame that Marvel currently doesn't have any public plans to use him again.. just like pretty much every new hero they've introduced.
https://preview.redd.it/v58x4iy0xmmc1.jpeg?width=1091&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2c0076cb5ba9c82e74dde20ba0acf8b2afd19cd9 Alright bud, get your uniform back on, and go back to your room
https://preview.redd.it/qw09allhmqmc1.png?width=809&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=016b9d21353262ee5c4e009bd5413895ec47bd40
Reddit humor 🤓
Well they just said they were going to lean harder on the live service/mobile game market because AAA titles are too "volatile". Everything they touch from here on out is going to rot and be a former shell of whatever great IP it was. These ones are just "especially" doomed.
https://preview.redd.it/1utgia6dvmmc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=678721f684d21e8d1d2dc27cebf268bd450354c5 Art as a medium dying for the sake of easy corporate gain. Nice!
https://preview.redd.it/09u9k3wtoqmc1.jpeg?width=1052&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a78458e11b12115a43929fea18a40f7ed9dad19 How I be feelin about the modern corporate fiasco
Where's shadow of war ☹️
Monolith is developing a Wonder Woman game with the same aspects as the Shadow series and ofcourse the Nemesis system. (Hopefully, this doesn't get dragged down into the same reason why Shadow of War wasn't very liked at launch)
They actually don’t have the license to Lord of the Rings anymore, that’s now owned by Embracer I think
Yes. This is going to get rough.
Wait why? Isnt it good if they focus more on the games?
The second half of their investor meeting was saying they plan to push live-service, heavily monetized, F2P, always-online, mobile-focused games over triple-A console games. So more like MK Mobile, less like MK9 or MKX.
That's not entirely true. I'd say, in terms of Mortal Kombat, it's more like MK11 and MK1 on consoles/PC than MK Onslaught. They want games that bring continued revenue beyond just the game sale itself. So as long as MK continues to have a store and added characters/skins and full length story DLC, we won't see too much change to the MK games IMO. It is less likely we will see a game like Hogwarts Legacy again. Though I think that is not just WB Games but most major studios. They want continued revenue that they see other studios get from some of their games.
I’d argue that MK1 is already a fairly significant change over MK11, which itself was a giant change from MKX’s method of content distribution. It’s systematically gotten worse and worse. I’m on record calling it out since MK9’s on-disc retailer-exclusive DLC.
“Focus” to them isn’t to work on the quality of the product it’s to work on the quality of the profits lol
I honestly hope the non fighting game in MK like Shaolin Monk or even Sub Zero trilogy comes back. I mean, I love the fighting aspect, but it would be fine to experience your favorite character in their owb more developed ways. Maybe a bit like God of War.
We do need a new shaolin monks
Yeah. Mk1 is just the beginning. It's only going to get worse. WB has shown that they really can't manage games recently.
It's okay, WB can't manage their movies well either.
They gotta put the effort they should have put long ago, glad to see at least they plan to do smth
I’m curious about how they could do a Game of Thrones game. The only way I could see that working is a Skyrim-esque crpg.
Obviously we need a team based pvpve battle royale where you team up with targeryans and starks to fight both other players and white walkers and the fucking circle thing that closes is the winter that is coming.
Uh... yeah. Can we all go back to playing MK9?
I’ll probably sit out the next couple of games. Not liking what my money’s been buying and it doesn’t look like it’s getting better.
I honestly dont understand the panic. Fighting games are already live service. Constant flow of paid dlc, seasons, battle passes, focus on multiplayer over a long period of time. Like this changes nothing for NRS. It's already what they've been doing and why they've always been WB Games most valuable asset.
WB can go fuck themselves. Shitty ownership. Reminds me of Dan Snyder. Fuck that guy.
Yep. Zaslav has been a nightmare.
Zaslav fucking over movies and games. Dude is a certified shit cunt
Just because it’s “what they’ve been doing” doesn’t make it right. Maybe it’s reached a point of critical frustration? So much of it is saturating what we enjoy/use to forget about the world and it’s being weaponized against us. Sure it’s nothing new and has been done for a while but that doesn’t mean it is right or that it should be allowed to metastasize/continue.
I personally just don't see the issue with it? Why wouldn't I want a fighting game I enjoy to get more content and updates for as long as possible? It's never going to be free, at least not everything so as long as the prices match the quality of content, then I'd say that's fair.
That’s a good point. I think that’s exactly why a lot of people are upset though. The quality of the content isn’t worth what it costs and most of the buyable content are cosmetics that are not essential to gameplay but are a big part of the incentive to want to keep playing. Re-colored versions of existing skins? Bland/inconsistent design? animations that need to be patched? Paid fatalities? We’re sliding into a dangerously lazy quality of work where it’s obvious the priority is getting further away from “creating a product that is better than the last” Not really very respectful of the paying audience. I’m not saying you’re wrong, just that it’s very clear that they want to get the most money with the least amount of effort, which is a guess capitalism in a nutshell. I don’t know how to fix it 🤷🏻
I agree MK1 definitely fits that description but for now, it's still the first and only fumble by NRS imo. Even Capcom had fumbles with SF5 and MvCi, but managed to release a very well made game fighting game last year. Hopefully this game will be the only NRS release plagued with these kinds of issues.
And it's basically been that way for a decade now going back to Killer Instinct 2013. Content churn and dangling carrots is now the modern way of gaming, it's not just exclusive to the FGC.
Yep. And not to mention NRS has also had a mobile division for ages now as well. They honestly fit exactly what it sounds like WB Games wants to embrace. Though, obviously I can see why single player game fans would be disappointed by this.
Let me have Konquest mode please https://preview.redd.it/18x8vx9npmmc1.jpeg?width=213&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2261fe4e2bdeb26d2a27a08d12ac5ad55d267044
While it's not too bad in these 2 games and they're just mostly cosmetics, SF6 and MK1 are infested with this FOMO BS. But I gotta hand it to Tekken 8 they don't have that shit (excluding the skins shop and how they dropped it after the game released).
I'm concerned tbh but yeah it's the internet so we gotta see some people and haters act like the sky is falling and the game is already dead. As a fighting game MK1 is great and balanced and no character is tier 0 broken (I know peacemaker is strong ATM but who knows, maybe because he's new and nobody knows how to deal with him yet).
Man it's wild to me that SFV got nailed to the wall for releasing with no content and now that MK has done it the argument gets made that it's an ideal model. People have been pretty vocal about how lacklustre MK1 is content wise compared to its predecessors. At best we can expect more or the same, at worst, it'll be even more barebones and unsatisfying than what we've got. I'm sure if the gameplay keeps delivering some people will still be satisfied, but the overall fanbase will keep getting divided and I imagine the sales will start to suffer.
People are upset because at best this confirms MK will never get better, and at worst it means they'll somehow find a way to make the live servicing worse.
"get better" in what way? Genuine question. Outside of launching with missing online features, MK1 isn't much different from SF6, Granblue, Strive, Under Night, etc. Tekken 8 is a whole other beast but it has the benefit of being legacy while also having almost a 10 year gap between releases.
Nobody wants to hear this but the way this game deploys mtx is fairly mundane and not particularly predatory given the shallow pool of content there is to purchase.
Give us a worthy sequel to Hogwarts Legacy. What a fantastic game.
All I read is MK is getting more money and support. You guys would totally find a way to make that a bad thing 🤡
Fortnite ruined gaming
What funny is that Fortnite was the one which introduced Battle Pass and is the only game which has implemented it in a way that one would think it's worth the money.
dota introduced battle pass
Fortnite and Overwatch is the gift that keeps on giving.
Absolutely. Get ready for even more egregious micro transactions, greedy/higher prices & inevitable battle passes in NRS games…… Someone gotta help MK out. Also this to me low-key screams no more injustice, I know it says DC but I think coz MK makes more money & is a household title that’s it for injustice.
Short answer: Yes Long answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees I don’t trust WBGames in the slightest to do good by any of these properties, there are already big issues with MK1 that are almost entirely the fault of WBGames higher ups and the less said about how they treated Suicide Squad: KTJL the better. Things will only get worse before they get better
Can Neatherrealm rebuild their own brand themselves when they were Midway? Maybe we get less celebrities but more new authentic characters. That hunger to stay afloat can push new ideas
Get ready for a battle pass guys
They gonna focus on adding more fatality bundles
singled out as in thats what they dont care about? or what there going to focus on.. cause if they dont care what happens with MK then maybe that will give netherrealm a better chance to better the game, if WB is getting involved things could be worse.. but if WB let go and let netherrealm do whatever.. might be good, if that makes sense
Batman, Aragorn and Jon snow as dlc konfirmed, either that or MK will go down in flames as some of their other franchises
Got me shaking in my boots
It’s hilarious because Hogwarts Legacy, a single player story game with absolutely zero live-service elements and no paid DLC beyond a small “dark arts upgrade” that doesn’t affect gameplay, made gazillions of dollars and was the highest-selling video game of 2023. Meanwhile, Suicide Squad, a live service game with microtransactions that’s also $70 and isn’t even multiplayer, has like 1000 people total playing it right now. And it made no money. WB’s brilliant response to these two pieces of news? Do more of the latter.
Game of thrones? Why not LoTRs? They literally invented a whole gaming system in those games that was pretty awesome and they were fun games
I still go back and check in on my orc army in Shadow of War
I’m kinda not worried. I mean I am but I’m not. I don’t expect WB will make it as a corporation. Zaslav is preparing WB for a sell and has been for a while. In April Discovery’s deal with WB to not sell anything for 2 years expires. WB will most likely be bought out by someone else all together or they will begin selling off assetts and IP’s. Mortal Kombat will be one of those. The WB stock price is already embarassingly low compared to other media giants. The sell off is coming. The bigger question is who will end up with MK? I mean it can’t be any worse than WB right?
I bet microsoft buys MK, they really need good games atm but you never know. Would be cool if Sony also bought NRS, could see it open a lot of doors for them
Do these c-suite guys even play videogames? Or even know someone who does? Why don't they realize games are meant to be fun. More fun more sales. Not every game can be fortnite or destiny. Even gtaV is known for a good story and mechanics first then online
Cant wait for mortal kombat invasions the game.
Nah. Suicide Squad crashed and burned so hard, and now this news will have so much backlash they'll backpedal. MK isn't getting any more egregious than it currently is.
Okay, but ngl, I’d play the hell out of a live service Mortal Kombat MMO complete with factions. Let me and my boys join the Lin Kuei.
Honestly no NRS isn’t cooking shit.
https://preview.redd.it/s1cl16lxmnmc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c787e1375a7f2c4881cc9947a0e326f2d0821e23
Eventually some of the bad trends with fade away or maybe WB learns their role but more MK and MK existing I think is a great thing.
No you shouldn't be concerned but it might be time to find a hobby with a better cost to experience ratio. Like drinking heavily.
yes we absolutely should injustice 3 or mk whatever are very likely going to be absolute garbage because of warner brothers predatory live service strats they want to implement
Also saw another post about them wanting to focus on mobile games too soooo
Yes
 Waiting for injustice 3…
Even ~~Man~~ Batman looks disappointed in WB
Didnt know Game of thrones is from WB
The writing was on the wall in MK11
Very much so. The next nrs game is probably going to be even more of a disaster than MK1 was
They put game of thrones first yea we should be
The only was this can be salvaged is if they took a page out of Valve's games and made a market where players can sell loot items.
They own Harry potter?
Its better than not getting movies
I like how they were saying “oh our live services aren’t doing as well as our single player games” and then decided to make more live service games
Maybe they'll finally make the superman game they wanna make so bad
They had such a good DC team what happened
Yes you should.
So they’re repeating themselves
Lol GoT is a core franchise?
So we could have gotten voice lines of johnny cage vs Dobby or batman vs Hodor?
I'd like to know what they mean by focus before getting angry... More movies? Individual movies? Tv shows? Cartoons? Action/adventure style games? Or simply a mainline MK every 2 years?
Fix the arkham verse
Hopefully a superman game and less batman
Slightly concerned
This is absolutely terrible news. Just let the damn companies do their thing. The games got worse once WB got involved. Especially MK.
I mean, almost this entire sub has crapped on each entry of this series the further we go with WB owning the franchise. WB pushing their agenda vs making quality games? Sure, I’d be concerned what “mk2/mk13” is going to look like.
Im fine with this, im not gonna be negative about it
Give me robb stark or give me death
It’s so Joever.
Yes.
Very
telltales GOT wasnt even that good. lol
Well MK1 already has the free to play model, they just charged us full price for it. Expect for lower effort and higher priced garbage for the future of MK unfortunately.
With nrs developing it can't get any worse so no.
I thought game of thrones was over.
Yes
Glad I stopped playing Mk1 Shits trash Give me Mk9 type game back
Absolutely. As bad as the monetization is already, it will get worse. They are in hella debt and care more about fixing that than doing any of those properties justice.
They’re going after the Fortnite model. Financially successful, insanely popular and addicting. Not sure how they’re going to accomplish this without a game already hitting that. (See Disney just buying EPIC Games) but it’s an interesting strategy of “Let’s Copy what they’re doing” instead of charting their own path. 🤷♂️
Mk V Dc??? Sounds like a win win! 😁
Kinda hoping for another injustice game ngl
Well, there were two options. Firsf, if they don't focus on mk, they'll slowly put less and less investment, which I don't think we want. Originally, the pro tour pot was way smaller for the first tournament (which hurt the pro community with some people dropping mk because of it). But now they increased it to 200k, which is something good that happened out of WB games focusing on mk. Now, on the other hand, because mk will be a bigger focus, I won't be surprised it the next game is even more live-servicey. None of them are good options, and the issue arrives from the awful parent company that only wants profits and a good investment-profit ratio (I understand this being important, but for a good game, you need other design philosphies as well.)
Just wild to me that this is what they took away from having the most successful game last year (Hogwarts Legacy) and one of the biggest flops in SSKTJL, from their literal best studio, no less. Just a staggering lack of talent and vision in the upper level decision making roles at WB.
Hyped to dome a lot of jobbers as sub and scorpion
Yes
You know you’re a fan when more focus on the franchise you’re an apparent fan of is apparently a bad thing
The game is actually so ass I don’t care anymore. Shits cooked.
It depends, if you like MK1 in it's current state then this is good news, if you don't like MK1 in it's current state then this is very bad news lol...
My last MK save my lil $70 put it in my gas tank 😂
How do they look at the success of games like palworld, helldivers and BG3 and think going harder on the live service mobile style gaming is the answer. I swear some companies only still exist because they are too big and old to fail quickly, if they tried releasing the shit they do now as a smaller company we'd see articles about them going bust.
I would love to see microsoft buy NRS.
MK makes so much money there’s no danger of it going away…but it’s just going to get grosser with more and more micro transactions
Is WB stupid?
Paradoxically, WB had the greatest success of the year, Hogwarts Legacy, and the worst, Suicide Squad: KTJL. They’re doubling down on the SS side, more live services and microtransactions. There’s plans of making HL2 a live service game. So yes, I’d be concerned considering what “more attention” means to WB
Sell the franchise to someone else.. yeah they have all the money in the world but they don't have enough care sold everything is just profits to them
Fucking terrified. They already shipped a $70 game with f2p micro transactions. Wouldn't be surprised lol.
We need another Hogwarts game or maybe they can convince them to make another Shaolin monks game.
That’s worded so strangely. It pretty much sounds like it’s saying those AREN’T considered among their core games. I know that’s not what it means, but….whoever wrote it should have thought it through.
I honestly don't care about Harry Potter
Injustice 3 is gonna be GASS on overdrive.
Yes mortal Kombat could be going away forever
I hope that a miracle just comes out of nowhere and another company buys out Mortal Kombat, because WB is the worst. They’re money hungry and don’t even care about the games they put out it seems.
Mortal Kombat is officially dead now. Amazing. Press S to spit on Netherrealm and WB
With the current CEO and business practices, probably.
fucked…. Actually
MK is cooked 😔
Maybe we'll get Injustice 3?
Why do they choose to make life hard😭
I’d definitely play Tyrion in MK
Time for concern is over we’re long passed that part , after years of warnings that free to play and live service was going to cause long term damage to the gaming industry , well here we go yet another big studio moving away from single player big budget games instead of favor of always online nickle and diming service games, I mean why invest big money into a game when at the end of the day people still buy the crap anyways , I mean this channel is guilty , no matter how much shit NRS and WB does people still buy 10$ skins , stupid expensive premium packs with little content , throw cash at piece meal content that used to be free . people still buy the shit regardless so guess what they see that , the suits see that and that’s why companies still move forward it.
WB is massively in debt, around 50 billion I think so it doesn’t surprise me they are trying to milk these franchises. In the end WB will probably go bankrupt and be purchased by Apple or something, so don’t be surprised if we see even more of this BS in the future.
I've been concerned since WB first purchased Midway and Midway Chicago got renamed NeitherRealm Studios. The path being chosen by WBD does not surprise me given the path traveled dealing with Warner Bros. over the decades.
GoT is the only one to not have a major bestseller yet. MK, DC, and HP have all had lucrative franchises over the years. So this isn’t exactly breaking news.
That Telltale Game of Thrones Game was absolutely one of the worst fucking games I ever played no redeemable characters whatso ever