After a brief stumble in the early 2000s, the Mortal Kombat franchise is well and truly back in full force, with the last few entries being some of the greatest fighting games ever made. And according to Warner Bros.'s recent earnings report, there's a brand new entry on the way, potentially arriving before the end of the year. But while fans are desperate to get their hands on Mortal Kombat 12 as soon as they can, it might be best for this entry to wait just a few more months to release.
The Mortal Kombat franchise has always had some pretty stiff competition in the world of fighting games. By the time Mortal Kombat debuted in 1992, Street Fighter had already been out for five years, and the beloved Street Fighter 2, widely considered to still be one of the greatest fighting games ever made, came out just a year before it. Once Mortal Kombat came to home consoles the competition only grew fiercer with Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Soulcalibur, and Dead or Alive all joining the fray. While times have changed and the franchise has continued to grow in popularity, Mortal Kombat 12 would be releasing against some stiff competition once more if it dropped in 2023.
Mortal Kombat 12 Might Not Want to Release in 2023
2023 is already shaping up to be a huge year for fighting games. For a start, Street Fighter 6 is set to release in June. The first mainline entry in seven years, Street Fighter 6 has been picking up quite a bit of steam since its first announcement back in June of last year. Along with adopting a bold new art style, Street Fighter 6 is introducing a brand-new control scheme to the game that directly targets new players and makes its combo system more accessible to them. It seems as though Street Fighter 6 is really trying to target as broad of an audience as possible with this entry, and it might just succeed in doing that.
Another fighting game juggernaut, Tekken 8, could release this year. Announced in September 2022, Tekken 8 continues the long-running story of Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima. According to its developer, Tekken 8 will focus on more aggressive gameplay, even including a new Heat Gauge mechanic along with bringing back Tekken 7's Rage moves. Though an official release date hasn't been confirmed, rumors suggest that Tekken 8 could launch as early as Winter this year.
As if those two weren't enough, the fighting game genre is also seeing two big-name titles get huge expansions this year. Both Guilty Gear Strive and King of Fighters are still receiving their Season 2 updates, which add a slew of new fighters to each game. Guilty Gear Strive is set to receive at least two new characters by the end of 2023, while King of Fighters will get a whopping total of five by the end of the year.
Mortal Kombat is arguably the biggest ongoing fighting game franchise around right now, with Mortal Kombat 11 selling over 15 million copies, so there's no doubt Mortal Kombat 12 would still likely perform very well if it was released in 2023. But it's also very likely that releasing in such a crowded market could result in less sales. To gain the most attention from fighting game fans, Mortal Kombat 12 should steer clear of a 2023 release and instead launch during the first few months of 2024, much like Mortal Kombat 11 did with its April release date back in 2019.
Mortal Kombat 12 is in development.