NetherRealm Studios confirmed a little over a couple months ago that they had all work on Mortal Kombat 11 had come to an end, with the developer now fully focused on its next project– but what exactly is that next project going to be? The studio has generally alternated between Injustice and Mortal Kombat games, leading some to speculate that Injustice 3 could be next up, but there have also been reports of a Marvel vs DC game being the studio’s next project.
According to journalist Jeff Grubb, however, neither of those two is in the pipeline right now. During a recent episode of GrubbSnax for Giant Bomb, Grubb claimed that given NetherRealm’s shaky future within Warner Bros. right now, and the shaky future of WB Games as a whole, it wouldn’t make sense for the developer to be working on a game that would require licensed characters, especially if NetherRealm is sold off in the coming year or so. Grubb says that based on what he’s heard, Mortal Kombat 12 is the game NetherRealm is working on next, with WB Games being confident in the game’s prospects.
Reports of WB Games’ internal studios getting sold off – which includes the likes of NetherRealm, Rocksteady, Monolith Productions, and more – have been doing the rounds since earlier this year, what with the Discovery and AT&T merger bringing Warner Bros’ future in the industry in doubt. In June, Warner Bros. said that rumours of NetherRealm Studios being sold off were inaccurate.
Warner Bros. has said that its internal studios are going to focus on making games based on their own properties, so an Injustice game developed by NetherRealm would actually fall in line with that- if the studio isn’t sold off, that is. Then again, given the incredible commercial and critical success Mortal Kombat 11 has enjoyed, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them immediately moving on to another instalment in the series.
