Warner Bros. has confirmed the disappointing news Mortal Kombat 1 fans anticipated following the Definitive Edition launch: no further DLC characters or story content will be developed for the game.

While Mortal Kombat 1 has moved 5 million units, bringing the franchise total to 100 million, its performance lags behind recent entries. Mortal Kombat 11 quickly surpassed Mortal Kombat X's sales of nearly 11 million to become the series' best-seller, exceeding 15 million copies sold by 2022, leaving Mortal Kombat 1's commercial results relatively underwhelming.

On the official Mortal Kombat social media account, Warner Bros. acknowledged player disappointment but stated, "our team at NetherRealm needs to shift focus to the next project in order to make it as great as we possibly can."

Warner Bros. did not specify the nature of this new project, though current rumors strongly suggest it is Injustice 3, a sequel to NetherRealm's DC Comics fighting game series.

The complete statement reads as follows:

We are hearing players’ requests for continued game support of Mortal Kombat 1, and, while we will continue to support Mortal Kombat 1 through balance adjustments and fixes, there will not be additional DLC characters or story chapters released from this point on.

We understand this will be disappointing for fans, but our team at NetherRealm needs to shift focus to the next project in order to make it as great as we possibly can.

The March 2025 release of the T-1000 guest character, arriving a year and a half after Mortal Kombat 1's launch, now stands as the game's final significant content update. For comparison, NetherRealm announced the end of Mortal Kombat 11 DLC in July 2021 to focus on its next project (Mortal Kombat 1), two years and three months after that game's release. Today's announcement arrives one year and eight months after Mortal Kombat 1 debuted.

Players are recalling previous assurances from NetherRealm's development chief, Ed Boon, who pledged long-term support for the game. Many are now highlighting a September 2024 tweet from Boon, where he reassured players concerned about the studio moving on by stating, "NetherRealm is still fully committed to supporting Mortal Kombat 1 for a long time to come."

What Will Be NetherRealm Studios' Next Game?

Mortal Kombat 2Injustice 3Something else (let us know what in the comments)

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The game saw a brief resurgence in January with the secret battle against Floyd, the pink ninja character Ed Boon had teased for years, which sparked a fun, community-wide hunt. However, this was a rare highlight in what many dedicated Mortal Kombat fans have found to be a generally disappointing release.

What lies ahead for Mortal Kombat? Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has signaled it still sees a future for the violent fighting series. In November, CEO David Zaslav stated the company's games division would focus its efforts on just four core franchises, one of which was Mortal Kombat. The film adaptation, Mortal Kombat 2, is scheduled for release later this year.