Mortal Kombat 1 (MK1) is a 2.5D fighter video game that uses 3D environments. The game was developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games, released in September 2023. The franchise started in 1992 with the release of the original Mortal Kombat (MK) game by Midway Games. MK1 is the 12th game in the main Mortal Kombat series. The game was argued to be a success, but performed poorly compared to its recent predecessors, with the studio pulling support less than two years after release. MK1 was unpopular, falling short of players’ expectations and delivering a poor experience.
Mortal Kombat 1 was argued to be a success, but sales suffered significantly compared to recent predecessors. PC Gamer referred to the game as “the best-selling fighting game of this generation” as PC sales, exceeding 6 million units, surpassed Street Fighter 6’s five million and Tekken 8’s 3 million. MK1’s predecessor, Mortal Kombat 11 (MK11), however, exceeded 8 million units sold within 1 ½ years and 15 million by 2022, becoming the best-selling MK game. The pandemic wasn’t the only influence on the franchise’s prior resurgence. Mortal Kombat X (MKX) had sold 11 million copies by 2019, holding the previous record in MK unit sales. MK1’s poorer performance continued, with lower sales in the Khaos Reigns expansion leading to the studio’s third DLC Kombat Pack being cancelled. MK1’s studio and publisher announced the end of official support in May 2025.
Mortal Kombat 1’s unpopularity with players was due to a collection of factors that delivered disappointing gameplay experiences. Players complained about the game’s unpopular monetization practices, insufficient content, technical and quality issues, and fundamental gameplay changes to what was loved about the franchise. Comparisons against previous games, particularly MK11’s variety of features and content, were a key standard by which the game repeatedly fell short for players. Read below to learn more about the reasons for Mortal Kombat 1’s failure and the lessons it offers game developers.
1. Lack of single-player content
The lack of single-player content, in particular on launch, contributed to Mortal Kombat 1’s failure. Creators underestimated players’ expectations around single-player content. Players missed the full 3D Krypt and Konquest exploration modes. Earlier games had greater variety in single-player modes as well as more extensive and memorable content. Invasions, the game’s main relied-on single-player mode, failed to keep players interested.
The creators were out of touch with players’ expectations around single-player content, underestimating how many of Mortal Kombat players enjoyed or preferred single-player modes. A lack of content for this large portion of the base, favouring competitive online play, alienated the players who weren’t as into PVP or preferred more variation. The need for an internet connection to access even the single-player Invasions mode further restricted the player base. Players stated that MK1 didn’t feel like an MK game, but more like any other fighter due to the lack of exploration modes like Konquest or Krypt.
Players missed previous full 3D exploration modes. MK 11’s version of the Krypt, and the Konquest mode in earlier games, felt more like immersive, atmospheric action-adventure games. MK1’s exploration mode, Invasions, was just another 2.5D fighting game mode with exploration elements. MK11’s Krypt even had higher-value rewards with greater utility. Having more ways to customize a character – such as 3 gear slots instead of 1 in MK11 – provided a stronger incentive to grind for rewards in prior single-player modes.
Previous Mortal Kombat games provided more varied single-player modes and more extensive and enjoyable content. MK9 provided both quantity and variety in content, first introducing the Challenge Tower with 300 distinct levels, Tag Team 2-player modes, the Krypt, and Klassic Ladder (traditional arcade) mode. The game had 4 types of minigames (“Test Your Might/Sight/Luck/Strike”), while MK1 had only Test Your Might. MK11 had more grindable content in a variety of modes, including Krypt, an AI battle simulator, Klassic Towers, and more challenging Towers of Time than MK1’s, with more substantive rewards. Players missed MK11’s AI Battles, and MK1 only received enhancements to Towers of Time over a year after launch, in the Khaos Reigns expansion. MK11’s story mode was notably longer than MK1’s, leaving single players little to do besides repeating towers and invasions and grinding seasonal content.
Mortal Kombat 1 relied too heavily on Invasions to keep players occupied as the main single-player mode. Invasions lacked variety, with reduced content compared to prior game modes, which impacted replayability. Invasions mode was initially the only way to get certain seasonal rewards, with Klassic Towers providing less-valued rewards. Invasions’ rewards, such as skins, weren’t considered distinct enough compared to prior games. Seasonal towers, a mode within Invasions, were limited, with fewer levels and a less novel and fun experience than tower modes in prior games. Players lost interest in Invasions, criticizing the mode’s reuse of prior seasonal content. The repetitive gameplay for insufficient and too-infrequent rewards felt like grinding for the sake of busywork.
2. Unfinished release state
Mortal Kombat 1’s unfinished release state gave the appearance of the game being rushed. Players faced serious bugs with the game on launch, disrupting matches and other gameplay. The game suffered performance issues like FPS drops, and players considered it poorly optimized. Core features were incomplete or lacked polish.
Launch bugs in Mortal Kombat 1 were one of the reasons the game was considered unfinished. Missing inputs disrupted matches, such as the infamous Player 1 Advantage bug. Projectile and armor bugs, such as hitbox misalignments, made those elements fail to work properly. The Switch version of MK1 had visual glitches where characters didn’t properly render. The game further suffered from optimization and performance issues.
Performance and optimization issues caused players frustration and disrupted gameplay during Mortal Kombat 1’s launch. Players on the Switch version experienced framerate drops and long loading times. The game was considered poorly optimized, with players considering its size – a minimum of 100 GB on Steam and 140 GB on consoles – unreasonable for a fighting game, particularly with its limited content.
Incomplete and unpolished core features during Mortal Kombat 1’s launch made the game feel rushed. MK1’s in-game move list included wrong or missing frame data about characters. Switch players only had the introductory location, Johnny Cage’s mansion, available for Invasions mode, with the remaining content taking weeks to be patched in while the team resolved bugs and performance issues. MK1’s crossplay support wasn’t available on launch, and never came to the Switch. Private lobbies never arrived, despite being present in MK9, MKX, and MK11. Players were disappointed by missing quality-of-life elements that had been standard in games by NetherRealm Studios, such as the ability to pin character moves. Broken subtitles in story mode added to the list of issues players experienced during the game’s launch.
3. Overpriced and underwhelming DLC
The overpriced and underwhelming DLC put players off of Mortal Kombat 1. Players considered the base game and expansions expensive, expecting more included content at a high quality. The addition of character microtransactions was seen as predatory, and players felt misled. Players found character customization options lacking and not worth the price. Excessive monetization, such as a new charge for some custom fatalities, was considered unreasonable.
The expensive base game and expansions made players expect higher quality, more content, and less monetization from Mortal Kombat 1. The game cost players $69.99, while the premium edition, which added early access and additional content, cost $109.99. Charging more for early access seemed exploitative, given the bugs, performance issues, seemingly rushed nature, and limited content of the game on launch. Content that felt missing from the game, such as more levels, greater challenge, and better rewards within Towers of Time, was sold separately as part of the $49.99 Khaos Reigns expansion. This lack of included content for an already-high price made players unhappy with the game’s microtransactions.
Mortal Kombat 1’s character microtransactions were seen as predatory. Players had expected more playable characters given the game’s price, and felt shortchanged by having only 22 to 23 included, fewer than the past 5 non-crossover Mortal Kombat games. Prominent recurring characters like Shang Tsung and Quan Chi had been expected to be included with the base game. Pre-ordering to receive Shang, or buying a bundle of characters as part of a $50 expansion only to discover the characters were separately purchasable later, made players feel misled. The game being built around Kameos as a core mechanic meant players had to consider buying Kameo characters in addition to regular characters as DLC.
Players found customization options in Mortal Kombat 1 lacking, compared to the game’s predecessor, Mortal Kombat 11. Some skins were uninteresting or not meaningfully different from others. Players resented having to pay for different color modes, or palettes, in addition to the skin. Paying between $5 and $10 for a costume didn’t feel worth the price. Having only 1 gear slot to customize instead of MK11’s 3 felt like a downgrade.
Mortal Kombat 1’s excessive monetization of game elements seemed greedy, such as the decision to charge players for custom fatalities, something that had been a core part of gameplay since Mortal Kombat II. The high price of $12 for the Halloween fatality prompted backlash and led to the 3 seasonal fatalities (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Winter/Christmas) being sold as a bundle.
4. Unpopular Kameo system
Mortal Kombat 1’s unpopular Kameo system, involving selecting a secondary character to join the fight for certain moves, put players off. Adding an assistant character changed MK1’s core 1v1 gameplay. Kameos were considered a cheap addition with limited utility. The added complexity of a Kameo meta was alienating to the game’s large social and casual player base.
Mortal Kombat 1’s Kameo system changed the core gameplay of Mortal Kombat from the traditional 1v1 theme, present since the franchise’s onset. Fights in MK1 are built around Kameos as a mandatory mechanic rather than an optional mode. Avoiding using Kameos puts players at a disadvantage, as Kameos extend combos. Characters like Shang Tsung seemed designed with deliberate weaknesses to need Kameos, feeling underdeveloped as a result. Having a character join the fight briefly and then leave broke immersion. The mode felt more like seeing a superhero sidekick appear than playing Mortal Kombat. Players compared Kameo unfavorably against MK9’s Tag Team, considering Tag Team fun due to being optional and a true 2-player mode, while Kameo was seen as a forced and poorly designed assist system.
Adding Kameos to Mortal Kombat 1 was seen as a cheap way to include fan favorite characters – and purchasable DLC – without making as many fully playable characters. Some popular characters in the franchise, such as Sonya Blade, weren’t playable except as Kameos. The limited utility reduced the appeal and relevance of Kameos compared to full characters. Gameplay placed too much emphasis on extending combos for the sake of needing Kameos, reducing back-and-forth fighting and creating a more complex meta.
Kameos added complexity to gameplay. Players had to learn their own moves in addition to the best Kameo combinations, which provided a different competitive meta. The learning curve made gameplay more difficult for a casual or social player base, which comprised a large portion of the game’s market. Kameo’s meta was unbalanced, with a few Kameos serving as the main effective picks, while others felt unnecessary.
5. Poor story and narrative
Poor story and narrative contributed to Mortal Kombat 1’s failure. Players disliked that the story was different from the Mortal Kombat style and tone. High expectations due to the franchise’s story-rich legacy and NetherRealm’s background in storytelling made players more disappointed when the story lacked quality and consistency.
Mortal Kombat 1’s story didn’t feel like Mortal Kombat. Traditional MK storylines were gritty, with a martial-arts fighting tournament style, whereas MK1’s story had a modern superhero-like tone. The story’s use of multiverse timelines was criticized, with players saying that it felt more like the Marvel Cinematic Universe than Mortal Kombat. The franchise was accused of chasing popular trends rather than remaining true to the traditional feel of the game.
Players had high expectations regarding Mortal Kombat 1’s story, which the studio and publisher failed to meet. NetherRealm were considered a pioneer of bringing story modes into fighting games that were cinematic and narrative-focused. MK games have a long-running sequential narrative, with players deeply invested in the lore. Narrative is considered more core to the game experience in MK than other fighting games, making the lack of quality extra disappointing to players.
Mortal Kombat 1’s story lacked quality and consistency. Players considered the story too short, and rushed toward the end. The plot was considered to not be well-developed or explained. Having the main villain turn out to be Shang Tsung was repetitive and labelled unoriginal. The story lacked complexity; villains’ motivations were overly simplistic or lacked justification. Players were disappointed by the ending, with the story lacking replayability as a result. Inconsistencies with existing game lore plagued the story, such as Katana and Milena being rewritten as sisters, Scorpion being a different character from past games, and General Xiao being portrayed as more of an antihero than a villain.
6. Lack of core features
Mortal Kombat 1’s lack of core features contributed to the franchise’s failure. The game had fewer modes on launch than MK11, which were less popular. MK1 lacked customizability and had fewer characters to choose from than its contemporary predecessors. FOMO tactics were seen as an alternative to creating more content.
Too few popular modes, compared to Mortal Kombat 11’s variety of options, left Mortal Kombat 1’s experience lacking for players. Expected favorite game modes like AI battles were never added. Players were particularly disappointed that the game didn’t receive a third-person exploration mode like Konquest or Krypt, considering Invasions to be less immersive and more repetitive. The Towers of Time mode fell short of MK11’s level of challenge and reward, and was only enhanced over a year after launch through additional paid content within the Khaos Reigns expansion. Of the 4 minigame options MK11 had, only Test Your Might was added, as part of Invasions mode. MK1 lacked support for crossplay when the game launched, with Switch players never receiving the feature. Private lobbies, a feature of the previous 3 games, were never added. MK1’s lacking content included fewer customizations.
Mortal Kombat 1 had fewer customizations than the previous game. MK 11 had gear 3 slots to mix and match for a true custom experience, while MK 1’s single slot felt like a less-visible skin switch. Players considered some skins too similar or generic-looking, and disliked paying for palettes separately. Certain MK11 customizations were removed entirely, such as custom attacks, intros, and outros. Reduced unlockable content in favor of DLC paywalls felt cheap to players. MK1 was the first of the MK games to charge for custom Fatalities and Brutalities, though players considered these lacking in unique and creative options compared to MK11, which had Stage Fatalities and humorous alternatives like Friendships.
Mortal Kombat 1’s base game had fewer characters to choose from. The 22 to 23 characters included with the base game was the lowest number of playable fighters in a non-crossover MK game since MK 5 (Deadly Alliance), released over 2 decades prior. MK1 was notably the first MK game to introduce no new characters to the franchise. The unpopular Kameo system was seen as a way to avoid creating full characters while still charging players for new Kameos and their customizations.
FOMO tactics were seen as a cheap alternative to creating more content. Modes that reset progress every season and reused elements were seen as a way to keep players playing without adding fresh content. Gaining XP was unreasonably slow for the effort put into single-player modes, forcing players to grind through levels to achieve season rewards, or to consider spending real money.
7. Poor netcode
Poor netcode disrupted Mortal Kombat 1’s launch. Latency issues affected competitive play. Matches suffered from inputs failing to register. Nintendo Switch players encountered additional issues affecting gameplay. Frequent disconnects from the server disrupted even single-player modes thanks to connecting online being required.
Latency plagued Mortal Kombat 1’s launch. Lag spikes and rubberbanding occurred even on stable fixed-line internet connections and disrupted ranked Kombat League matches. Players in regions like parts of Africa considered the game unplayable due to pings of 200 to 400 ms. Latency was in part due to MK1 being server-based. MK11, by contrast, used peer-to-peer (P2P) for matches, reducing lag. Players of MK1 experienced packet losses that resulted in stuttering freezes or characters moving as if underwater. Delays affected window periods during matches, with characters responding even 1 to 2 seconds after an input.
Failed inputs disrupted matches when Mortal Kombat 1 launched. The Player 1 Advantage bug resulted in certain combos by Player 2 failing to register, letting Player 1 deal higher damage. Players encountered additional missing inputs when using Kameo characters, and had blocks and Brutalities fail to trigger.
Nintendo Switch players experienced hardship in Mortal Kombat 1. Players had severe FPS drops, long waiting times for loading, and characters failing to render. Reduced performance for Switch players compared to other platforms resulted in crossplay never coming to the Switch. The performance issues delayed Switch players’ access to most of the Invasions content until weeks after launch, while fixes were being patched in. Switch players experienced a greater number of disconnects.
Disconnects from the server were an issue after Mortal Kombat 1’s launch, even when running on a stable internet connection. Disconnect issues that required restarts frustrated players, as saved progress from modes like Invasions was lost. Requiring an internet connection even in single-player modes seemed an unnecessary hurdle for players to contend with. Warner Bros was seen as prioritizing live services and monetization features over players’ experience.
What can game designers learn from Mortal Kombat 1’s failure?
What game designers can learn from Mortal Kombat 1’s failure is to make sure that the player experience is prioritized. Players want value for money and transparency around marketed content. Sequels developed for an established franchise are held to a high standard, expected to remain true to the core gameplay, feel, and lore. Modes and features of a game must be what players want, informed by player testing. Negative experiences on launch create a reputation that is difficult to change later. Disruptions to gameplay, such as bugs and connectivity issues, leave a bad impression of a game and its creators.
Players expect transparent marketing and value for money. Misleading marketing practices break trust and make players feel disrespected. Characters that MK1 advertised as pre-order incentives and exclusive bundles became separately purchasable soon after. Multi-tiered pricing for insufficient content is perceived as nickel-and-diming without caring about players’ experience. MK1’s expensive base game, expansions, and microtransaction content were criticized for lacking both quantity and quality. The game included fewer characters and Tower challenges, selling the additional content separately later. Invasions mode reused content, and many skins lacked meaningful distinction. Players expected high quality for the high prices, and compared the game’s content negatively to recent previous games.
Players expect sequels to be true to the spirit of earlier games, shown by honoring the series’ core gameplay, feel, and lore. MK1’s decision to move away from the traditional gritty martial-arts studio type of story to a superhero-like multiverse storyline felt disrespectful to the franchise. Altering long-established lore, like the true identity of fan-favorite Scorpion, was unpopular and made players feel that the writers and studio didn’t care about the game. Changing the core gameplay from a 1v1 face-off to one based around Kameo assists made MK1 different to every other Mortal Kombat game. The move was seen as a way to sell more fighters and their customizations without developing full characters. The fact that significant changes to gameplay weren’t optional, such as Kameo, reminded players of preferred features and modes, such as the two-player Tag Team, which they felt were implemented better.
Core features and modes must be what players want, informed by player testing. The studio and publisher failed to understand the core base’s expectations, which negatively impacted the final product. Mortal Kombat players expected greater variety in single-player content and customizability, and wanted more exploration-focused and story mode content. Players felt that the game was treated more like a different fighting game, rather than Mortal Kombat. The initial lack of Towers of Time content and the repetitive play and reused assets in Invasions made the game feel barebones. MK1’s development felt rushed and incomplete, due to missing quality-of-life features, like pinnable character moves, on launch.
Negative launch experiences set a difficult-to-change reputation and are costly. Earlier testing mitigates the risk of launch disruptions. Mortal Kombat 1 added improvements later in development, such as additional content, enhanced rewards, and bundling of seasonal fatalities for better pricing, but wasn’t able to come back from players’ poor launch experience. The studio abandoned major content support less than 2 years after release. The lack of user acceptance testing and beta testing resulted in disappointing content and disrupted gameplay.
Technical disruptions to core gameplay, such as bugs and connectivity issues, put players off both the game and creators. MK1’s launch bugs and netcode issues led to frequent complaints about the game on subreddits and online reviews. Early access is traditionally a way to do beta and user-acceptance testing. MK1 sold early access as a Premium benefit, and had only a five-day early access period. This treatment of early access as an expensive VIP feature raised expectations of quality. Early access’s short duration meant that serious issues, like the Player 1 Advantage bug, were only resolved weeks after full launch. Requiring an internet connection for single-player modes was unnecessary and gave the impression of the player experience being secondary. Failing to optimize the gameplay for minimal lag, such as MK1’s lack of P2P support for PVP, alienated players.
