Ed Boon, Mortal Kombat 1's creative director, recently shared a sneak peek of the T-1000 Terminator's upcoming Fatality on social media, simultaneously hinting at future downloadable content (DLC). This follows the release of the Conan the Barbarian guest character, which Boon announced coincided with the game surpassing five million copies sold – a significant jump from the previously reported four million.
The tweeted clip showcases a Fatality mirroring the iconic Terminator 2 truck chase scene, with the T-1000 using a wrecked truck to devastating effect. However, it's Boon's accompanying statement, "With Conan getting into player’s hands, we are excited to keep trucking forward with future DLC!", that has sparked considerable speculation within the Mortal Kombat community.
While the phrase could simply refer to the imminent T-1000 release, many fans interpret it as a tease of additional DLC characters beyond the current Khaos Reigns expansion. This expansion includes Cyrax, Sektor, Noob Saibot, Ghostface, Conan the Barbarian, and the upcoming T-1000. The possibility of a third DLC character pack, or "Kombat Pack 3," has been a topic of much discussion, particularly in light of the game's sales performance.
Warner Bros. Discovery, Mortal Kombat's parent company, has expressed continued confidence in the franchise. CEO David Zaslav stated in November that the company plans to significantly invest in only four game titles, with Mortal Kombat being one of them. Ed Boon himself confirmed in September that NetherRealm had already chosen its next project three years prior, but pledged long-term support for Mortal Kombat 1.
While many anticipate NetherRealm's next title to be a third installment in the Injustice fighting game franchise, this remains unconfirmed. The Injustice series, featuring DC Comics characters, previously saw releases in 2013 (Injustice: Gods Among Us) and 2017 (Injustice 2). NetherRealm's decision to release another Mortal Kombat game (Mortal Kombat 1, a soft reboot) in 2023, after Mortal Kombat 11 in 2019, broke the previously established alternating pattern between the two franchises.
In a June 2023 interview with IGN, Boon vaguely explained this decision, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition to a newer Unreal Engine (Unreal Engine 4 for Mortal Kombat 1, compared to Unreal Engine 3 for Mortal Kombat 11) as contributing factors. He explicitly confirmed, however, that the Injustice franchise remains a possibility for future development.
