With Mortal Kombat 11 being over three years old at this point, many have wondered when it’ll be time for the developer to reveal its next game yet. If, however, you were hoping that an announcement would come at The Game Awards next week- well, there’s bad news for you.

Taking recently to Twitter, Ed Boon confirmed that the studio will not be announcing anything at The Game Awards on December 8. “Thank you for the anticipation, but we’re not ready to announce the next NetherRealm Studios game yet.”

Though the absence of what’s likely to be Mortal Kombat 12 is going to sting, it’s looking like the upcoming event is going to be packed with several major announcements nonetheless, with reports pointing to the likes of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Diablo 4, Final Fantasy 16, Kojima Productions’ next game, and more.

https://twitter.com/noobde/status/1598732410585088001

After an online stress test that ended only yesterday, Mortal Kombat 11 will also be going through its previously announced closed beta (which will only be available to PS4 and Xbox One players, like the online stress test was) later this month. NetherRealm Studios have taken to Twitter to announce the exact timings of when the beta will be beginning (and ending) based on what region you’re on.

Players in the Americas get access to the beta on March 27th, as it goes live on 08:00 PST, before ending at 23:59 PST on March 31st. United Kingdom players will get access on March 27th at 15:00 GMT, with the beta remaining live until April 1st, 07:59 GMT. In Europe and the Middle East, the beta will be live from March 27th, 16:00 CET to April 1st, 08:59 CET. Meanwhile, in Asia and the Oceania, the beta will be live from March 28th, 02:00 AEDT to April 1st, 17:59 AEDT.

Mortal Kombat 11’s stress test saw some improvements to the game’s movement speed and overall pace of combat, and according to director Ed Boon, that’ll be even better in the final product. It launches on April 23 for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

https://twitter.com/MortalKombat/status/1107627434176851968

We’ve been able to learn plenty about the narrative setup that the upcoming Mortal Kombat 11 will be using as a jumping off point in its campaign, thanks most recently to an excellent story trailer. Unlike many, many other fighters, in true NetherRealm Studios fashion, Mortal Kombat 11 is looking to have a strong story mode, so expectations are obviously high- but how long can players expect it to be?

Gamereactor is reporting that the story mode in Mortal Kombat 11 will be roughly eight hours long, as they were told by a NetherRealm Studios representative. Eight hours is, of course, about the perfect length for a story mode in a fighter (and also in the same general range that NetherRealm’s story modes usually fall in), which is something that fans of the series and those looking forward to Mortal Kombat 11’s campaign will be happy to hear.

Of course, there are many who are going to buy Mortal Kombat for anything but the story mode, and NeatherRealm Studios say they have plenty planned for them by way of content too, having recently mentioned that they’ve got plans for post-launch support as well.

Mortal Kombat 11 launches on April 23 for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. An online stress test begins for the game today on PS4 and Xbox One, and will remain live till March 17, before a closed beta is also held on the same platforms from March 28 to March 31.

What do you think when you think of Mortal Kombat? You think of Fatalities, of course. These over-the-top, brutal, ridiculously violent finishing moves have been synonymous with the series for as long as it has existed, so it’s no surprise at all that the developers spend a long, long time working these out during the development of each new title in the series.

Recently, in a video documentary uploaded by Noclip (which you can view below), creative director and NeatherRealm Studios boss Ed Boon spoke about the process of developing Fatalities for Mortal Kombat 11, revealing that the team spent months on conceptualizing and developing each of these, while also giving out details on what exactly the process entails.

He also, interestingly enough, spoke about the philosophy of developing these Fatalities, saying that the developers design them to be as over the top as they possibly can be, to the point where they’re almost parodies of themselves.

“The more outrageous, the better,” said Boon. “Like, not realistic. You know, nothing that somebody could look at and think, ‘oh, I’m gonna repeat that.’ It’s so ridiculous- you know, Geras hits somebody behind in their head and their whole face comes out. It’s ridiculous. And the fact that we’ve made eleven of these games, and each one is more outrageous than the other puts us in the stratosphere- it’s so outside of reality, it’s almost a parody at this point.”

Ed Boon has previously spoken about the process of developing Mortal Kombat 11’s Fatalities as well, and how much time the development team spent on getting their slow motion blood spatter effects just right. Read more on that through here.

Mortal Kombat 11 launches on April 23 for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

NeatherRealm Studios revealed during their recently held Kombat Kast livestream for the upcoming Mortal Kombat 11 that they will be holding online stress tests for the upcoming fighter in March. The purpose of the test, as is the case with all stress tests, will be to test the game’s online servers ahead of its launch next month.

The stress test, which will be held from March 15 to March 17, will only be open to a limited number of players in the United States, and only on the PS4 and Xbox One- you can register here. This is separate from the game’s previously announced close beta (which will also be for PS4 and Xbox One players only)- that will be going live on March 28 and run up till March 31.

During the same stream, the developers also put the limelight on the recently revealed fav-favourite Johnny Cage, who’s been confirmed to be returning in the game as a playable character. Meanwhile, in related news, the game’s entire playable roster might have been leaked- read more on that through here.

Mortal Kombat 11 launches on April 23 for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Mortal Kombat 11 director and NeatherRealm Studios boss was teasing the addition of fan-favourite Johnny Cage to the upcoming fighter’s roster recently, and now it’s been confirmed that the cocky Hollywood bigwig will indeed be joining the fight, courtesy of a reveal trailer at IGN.

The trailer exhibits Cage in his element. He’s making quips, blinding people with flashes from his camera, using award statuettes to deal deadly attacks- and then there’s his Fatality, which has to be the best one we’ve seen out of all Mortal Kombat 11 characters so far. In short- it’s Johnny Cage as we know and love him. Take a look below.

Cage has been a staple of the franchise for as long as it has existed, so his presence in Mortal Kombat 11 was hardly ever in doubt, but this official confirmation will doubtless have made a lot of people very happy. Recently, characters such as D’Vorah, Kabal, and Jade have also been confirmed as additions in the upcoming fighter’s roster.

Mortal Kombat 11 launches on April 23 for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

A fighter is only as good as its roster, and Mortal Kombat almost always manages to nail that aspect. The upcoming Mortal Kombat 11 is also looking like it’ll be doing just that, with the likes of newcomer Geras and Sonya Blade having been revealed about a month ago, followed by the reveals that D’Vorah and Kabal will also be returning to join the roster. And now, several other characters to be included in the game might have been leaked.

Over on Steam DB (via Twisted Voxel), the game’s Steam Achievements are listed, as they would be for any other game, but interestingly enough, files linked to specific achievements for performing two different Fatalities each with individual characters contain shortened references to the character names themselves. The likes of Scorpion (mentioned as SCO), Sonya Blade (SON), Sub-Zero (SUB), and Kabal (KAB) are all mentioned, but it seems the files aren’t limited to the characters that have been officially revealed.

References to ERR (most likely Erron Black), KUN (Kung Lao), FRO (Frost), JAD (Jade), CAS (Cassie Cage), and KOT (Kotal Kahn) can also be seen in the file names for the achievements in question. There are others, too, which might possibly be referring to new characters entirely (then again, maybe not). Given that this doesn’t come from official channels, and that the names those references might be related to are guesses at best, don’t take this as confirmation of the addition of these characters to the game’s roster- but it’s pretty solid evidence nonetheless.

Stay tuned, and we’ll keep you updated on any new info that comes our way. Mortal Kombat 11 launches on April 23 for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Mortal Kombat 11’s roster continues to expand. We of course know about returning mainstays such as Scorpion and Sub-Zero, while we’ve also found out about Sonya Blade and new character Geras being added to the roster. And now, NeatherRealm Studios have announced the addition of two more fighters- none of them are newcomers to the series, but fans will doubtless be happy to hear about their return.

Kabal, the dual hooked sword wielding menace that fans of the series will be very familiar with, will be returning in Mortal Kombat 11 after being absent from its predecessor. He was first introduced all the way back in Mortal Kombat 3 and has been around for a long time, so obviously, fans of the series will be glad to see him once more. A reveal trailer for him was also recently released, showing off his bloody moves, deadly attacks, and a fatality that can literally rip you in half. Check it out in all its gory glory below.

The other character to be confirmed for the game’s roster is D’Vorah. As one of the newest additions to the series, having been introduced in Mortal Kombat X, D’Vorah isn’t as much of a mainstay as Kabal as, but she has a deadly enough suite of attacks as well. She hasn’t yet received an introduction trailer of her own, but her addition was confirmed by NeatherRealm Studios in the latest episode of Inside Xbox, which can also be viewed below.

Recently, we also learned that though the space-time manipulating Kronika will have a major role to play in the game’s story, she won’t be a playable character- read more on that through here. Mortal Kombat 11 launches on April 23 for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. A private beta is schedule to go live some time in March.

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We’ve been receiving information on which characters will be part of Mortal Kombat 11’s roster of playable characters, including the likes of Sonya Blade and Geras. And now, we also have information on who won’t be part of the roster- Kronika, the Keeper of Time, Geras’ master, will be featured as a boss character and looks like will have an important role to play in the story, but she won’t be playable.

This was confirmed to IGN Brasil by NeatherRealm Studios’ scenario artist Thiago Gomes. Considering the fact that she can literally manipulate space and time, this doesn’t come as that much of a surprise, but many people who’ve been hoping that she would be playable might be disappointed by this news. Oh well, at least we get to square off against her, if nothing else.

Recently, we also learned that players will be able to earn and purchase gear in Mortal Kombat 11, but that all of it will be cosmetic only- but there will still be some items in the game called augments that will affect gameplay. Read more on that through here.

A beta for Mortal Kombat 11 will be held in March, while the game itself launches in full on April 23 for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC (though it seems the Switch version has been delayed in Europe).

NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat 11 will be pursuing a gear system not unlike Injustice 2 when it launched in May 2017. While the latter had a good way of balancing its gear, making it irrelevant in online competitive PvP modes, Mortal Kombat 11 is taking a different approach. This time, gear will serve to customize your character’s appearance and won’t have any stats.

Xbox Wire recently asked core technology group producer Trevor Traub about the difference between both games with regards to their gear systems. He responded, “One of the major differences is that the gear itself has no stats. It’s cosmetic-only.”

However, players can still find items that will change the way certain moves work. These are called augments, and as per Traub, they can “modify either moves or gameplay or recovery windows.”

“Those are all different,” he said. “So, the gear itself is the cosmetic component, and then the augments are all different types of loot you can get throughout the game. You can deeply customize your character. Like Skarlet has a bunch of different arguments.

“You can make her get even more life from blood, totally different things like that. You can make different versions of your character. And those customizations will be seen online, but it’s not quite like Injustice 2 — your stat changes won’t all be in play online, but the cosmetic choices will be seen by other players.”

It’s an interesting choice, though one must remember that Injustice 2 used RNG loot boxes (called Mother Boxes) to dole out different gear. You won’t be seeing loot boxes in Mortal Kombat 11 though. Speaking to Angry Joe on YouTube, producer Ed Boon said that loot boxes won’t be included in the microtransactions. Perhaps, like other recent games, NetherRealm’s fighter will offer cosmetics for in-game and/or premium currency (and likely have the latter earned over-time).

Mortal Kombat 11 is out on April 23rd for Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC (though the Switch version in Europe seems to be slightly delayed). A beta for the game is scheduled to take place in March for Xbox One and PS4. Pre-ordering the game will net players beta access and iconic series villain Shao Kahn as a day 1 character.