Mortal Kombat was originally released on October 8, 1992 at arcades worldwide. Since the release of Mortal Kombat in arcades, players have been raving about the new “Mortal Kombat” game they played at their local pizza parlor, their amusement park, their arcade. Midway caught wind of this rise of popularity, so much so they converted that particular Mortal Kombat to all platforms available. The home conversions got so much controversy, that it gave birth to the ESRB ratings system that we see on games today. Nintendo lost face, and damaged their brand during this period, because they stood on the parents’ side of the argument. So much, so Mortal Kombat for Super Nintendo was censored. No blood, no fatality, no decapitations. Mortal Kombat stood the test of time over the course of 30 years now. Over the next 30 years, Mortal Kombat has grown its fanbase so much, that Mortal Kombat X was their best selling video game, with 11 Million copies. Mortal Kombat 11 surpassed it by selling 15 Million copies.
On May 1, 2023 – NetherRealm released a second 30th Anniversary video, but is titled as “Thank you from NetherRealm.” In this collection of “thank you” messages, the teams working with NetherRealm said their thank yous, and followed up with a little smidge of a teaser. On May 10, 2023 – the official Mortal Kombat YouTube channel uploaded a teaser trailer for Mortal Kombat 12. Warner Bros.’ C.E.O. said in a Investor Call that “Mortal Kombat 12 is being released this year.” I’m paraphrasing it, but that’s the jist of what he said.
We don’t know what the teaser is alluding to, but speculation is running rampant, and most of it is saying it is a reboot of the Mortal Kombat timeline from Mortal Kombat 9 through 11. Because the clock’s small arm is ticking down from 9 to 11, and skips a beat. Other speculation is that Mortal Kombat 12 is actually “Mortal Kombat 1.” Because of that time skip from 11 to 1. I am torn on the idea, but Ed Boon said in a Twitter Q & A session that Mortal Kombat 12 (whatever it’s called) will take place after the events of “Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath,” where Fire God Liu Kang reset the timeline. This is with Kronika defeated and destroyed in the Aftermath timeline. Fire God Liu Kang went into Kung Lao’s early timeline to tell him that Liu Kang is a good friend.
