‘Mortal Kombat 1’ Gets a Definitive Edition, but it Feels Like These Collections Hurt More Than Help

With the announcement of Mortal Kombat 1: Definitive Edition, everyone is reasonably expecting that support for the game is over. After all, only AEW: Fight Forever would be crazy enough to have multiple “complete” editions. The MK1 Definitive Edition features all of the DLC that released since the game launched. There are also new skins inspired by the 2021 movie and the upcoming Mortal Kombat 2 movie. All that is well and good, but why are we still doing definitive editions of anything?

‘Mk1: DEFINITIVE EDITION’ IS LOOKING LIKE THE END OF THE GAME

Ed Boon said back in September of last year that “NetherRealm is still fully committed to supporting Mortal Kombat 1 for a long time to come.”

Love the fact that there is excitement for our next game. And I don’t want to be a stickler for words…

But we haven’t been working on our next game for 3 years already. The actual quote was that we KNEW what our next game was going to be 3 years ago.

NetherRealm is still…

— Ed Boon (@noobde) September 24, 2024

And while I don’t have much reason to doubt Ed Boon, I have plenty of reason to doubt Warner Bros. More reasons than I care to name. But I will name one: David Zaslav. Remember this from November? Only focusing on those four properties. That sounds like someone anxious to push some stuff out. Not someone who wants to continue support for a game that’s only been out for two years. That worries me. I mean, he made the decision to end the “HBO Max” name before bringing it back. Because whenever you have the chance to get rid of one of the most recognizable brands of all time, you have to take it.

I’m always confused by the logistics of the “definitive edition” of games. You want people who may not have picked it up the first time around to do so — and with everything included? Cool. Why not just discount the base game and DLC and get the total to equal $70? These versions don’t even come with a physical collectible. That would be a much better incentive to buy it than just reselling the game with all the DLC. Hell, it’s not like you’re all incentivizing people to buy physical anyway. But that’s a different conversation.

test your patience with the “definitive” ‘mortal kombat 1’

It feels like more ridiculous money-reaching from companies that have better and less annoying ways to make the money they want. The easy way isn’t always the best way. And when you do something like this for a game that, quite honestly, lost a lot of its punch over the last two years, it just looks funny in the light to everyone else. And it sucks because it puts devs in weird positions where they say they want to support the game, and the higher ups make moves that contradict that. There’s a better way. It’s just clear that the decision makers don’t care about it.