It was really a pleasant surprise when Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and NetherRealm Studios confirmed that Mortal Kombat 11 would be coming to the Switch alongside the PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions. Pleasant surprise, because this is a game that looks to be on the cutting edge as far as tech goes, and also because so far, Warner Bros.’ support for the Switch has been fairly half-hearted.
But this game is hitting the Switch day and date with the other versions (except for in Europe, where it may be delayed by a couple of weeks). Which is exciting enough. Naturally, however, the Switch version won’t be as graphically impressive as the other ones.
Producer Trevor Traub told Game Revolution that the Switch version will be handled by Shiver, and will see some geometry reductions to ensure the title hits the 60fps framerate target.
“There are special geometry reductions that happen to make it work on the Switch. The end product is actually really fantastic,” he said, before adding that there is no “lead version” for the game, and NetherRealm views all versions as equal (which explains why they want to add cross-platform play to the game, but not why only PS4 and Xbox One get the beta).
“We’re actually not developing it in house; it’s being developed by Shiver Studios. They’re developing it at the same time as us so it’s sort of a co-development. There is no lead SKU.”
Hopefully, the final port is impressive. Switch versions of multiplatform games have been usually surprisingly good on the technical front, so we should hopefully see Mortal Kombat 11 continue that tradition too, when it launches for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on April 23.