Mortal Kombat 1's Ed Boon Hints at Future DLC Following T-1000 Reveal
Ed Boon, chief creative officer of Mortal Kombat 1, recently shared a sneak peek of the upcoming T-1000 Terminator's Fatality on social media, simultaneously teasing future downloadable content (DLC). This announcement coincided with the release of the Conan the Barbarian guest character and the revelation that Mortal Kombat 1 has surpassed five million copies sold.
Boon tweeted a short video showcasing one of the T-1000's fatalities, a nod to the iconic truck chase scene from Terminator 2. The accompanying tweet, "With Conan getting into player’s hands, we are excited to keep trucking forward with future DLC!", sparked considerable speculation within the Mortal Kombat community.
While the phrase could simply refer to the imminent arrival of the T-1000, many fans interpret it as a hint towards additional DLC characters beyond the current Khaos Reigns expansion. This expansion includes Cyrax, Sektor, Noob Saibot, Ghostface, Conan the Barbarian, and the soon-to-be-released T-1000. The possibility of a third DLC pack, or "Kombat Pack 3," has been a topic of much discussion, fueled by questions surrounding the game's sales performance.
Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company, has expressed continued confidence in the Mortal Kombat 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. Furthermore, Ed Boon himself confirmed in September that NetherRealm had already chosen its next project three years prior, while promising continued support for Mortal Kombat 1 "for a long time to come."
Speculation points towards a third installment in the Injustice fighting game franchise as NetherRealm's next project. However, neither NetherRealm nor Warner Bros. has officially confirmed this. The Injustice series, featuring DC Comics characters, previously saw releases in 2013 (Injustice: Gods Among Us) and 2017 (Injustice 2). The release of Mortal Kombat 11 in 2019 and the subsequent Mortal Kombat 1 in 2023 disrupted the previously perceived alternating release pattern between the two franchises.
In a June 2023 interview with IGN, Boon offered some insight into the decision to develop another Mortal Kombat game before Injustice 3. He cited 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 significant factors. He explicitly confirmed, however, that the Injustice franchise remains a possibility for future development.
