After a brief stumble in the early 2000s, theMortal Kombatfranchise is well and truly back in full force, with the last few entries being some of the greatest fighting games ever made. Andaccording 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 onMortal Kombat 12as soon as they can, it might be best for this entry to wait just a few more months to release.
TheMortal Kombatfranchise has always had some pretty stiff competition in the world of fighting games. By the timeMortal Kombatdebuted in 1992,Street Fighterhad already been out for five years, andthe belovedStreet Fighter 2, widely considered to still be one of the greatest fighting games ever made, came out just a year before it. OnceMortal Kombatcame to home consoles the competition only grew fiercer withTekken,Virtua Fighter,Soulcalibur,andDead or Aliveall joining the fray. While times have changed and the franchise has continued to grow in popularity,Mortal Kombat 12would be releasing against some stiff competition once more if it dropped in 2023.
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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 6is set to release in June. The first mainline entry in seven years,Street Fighter 6has 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 6is 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 thoughStreet Fighter 6is 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 8continues the long-running story of Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima. According to its developer,Tekken 8will focus on more aggressive gameplay, even including a new Heat Gauge mechanic along with bringing backTekken 7’s Rage moves. Though an official release date hasn’t been confirmed, rumors suggest thatTekken 8could 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. BothGuilty Gear StriveandKing of Fightersare still receiving their Season 2 updates, which add a slew of new fighters to each game.Guilty Gear Striveis set to receive at least two new characters by the end of 2023, whileKing of Fighterswill get a whopping total of five by the end of the year.
Mortal Kombatis arguably the biggest ongoing fighting game franchise around right now, withMortal Kombat 11selling over 15 million copies, so there’s no doubtMortal Kombat 12would 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 12should steer clear of a 2023 release and instead launch during the first few months of 2024, much likeMortal Kombat 11did with its April release date back in 2019.
