‘Mortal Kombat 12’: Netherealm Studios Creator Teases Fans with Sand & Time
Everyone knows it’s happening and yet we are still absolutely on the edge of our seats – Mortal Kombat 12 is coming.
Mortal Kombat is undoubtedly the most popular Western-developed fighting game series in gaming history. Created by Ed Boon and John Tobias, it has been a cultural phenomenon since its release in 1992. The violence in it was so brutal for its time that parents pushed for censorship, causing the gaming industry to create the ESRB system to keep the government from stepping in. The series has spawned tons of sequels, spin-offs, action figures, cartoons, shorts, TV shows, and movies that made it ingrained into pop culture far longer than most games of the era.
Ed Boon has been celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Mortal Kombat since last year with posts celebrating the releases of various MK games. This was definitely leading up to an announcement of a brand-new game in the series. The secret was let out in a very lame way though with the WB Discovery CEO just saying it in a meeting. Luckily, this hasn’t stopped Boon from his plans.
via PlayStation Store
Test Your Might
Ed Boon took to his Twitter Page to continue celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Mortal Kombat with various people of NetherRealm Studios telling everyone their thanks for sticking with the series for so long. The video ended with the vague tease of single piece sand exploding:
A big THANK YOU from us, with a (not so subtle) tease of what’s koming 👍🏻#MortalKombat pic.twitter.com/p02TeUiBGK
— Ed Boon (@noobde) May 1, 2023
What does it mean you ask? Well, the Sands of Time was very important in Mortal Kombat 11 and Ed Boon’s latest tease was posted on his Twitter once more. The tease also involved time:
Does anyone know what time it is? #MortalKombatpic.twitter.com/pXY2wlidde
Advertisement— Ed Boon (@noobde) May 10, 2023
The teaser has the clock skip 12 and go straight to 1. The fighting game community is on the edge of their seats for any info on what it could all mean. Even though the existence of it was spoiled, doesn’t mean Ed Boon can’t still have fun teasing us on what it actually will be like in both characters and story.
Wild Speculation!
Fans all have their theories at the moment on what this means. Mortal Kombat is one of the only fighting games I know that got away with a soft reboot ever. Mortal Kombat (2011) rebooted the entire timeline by using Raiden giving himself a warning in the past. This caused Raiden to try and steer the choices of many to disastrous results that leaves EarthRealm with Johnny Cage as its greatest hero by the time the game was done. The villain of Mortal Kombat 11, Kronika, was displeased by how the timeline had changed so drastically.
Mortal Kombat 11 had the heroes meet their past selves and team up with them to stop Kronika from destroying their lives. All good main endings lead to Liu Kang becoming a Fire God and the new godly protector of EarthRealm.
My boy is moving up in the world
The game’s story ends with Liu Kang meeting the original Kung Lao to discuss his future. This is a huge revelation since Kung Lao was the original EarthRealm Mortal Kombat Champion until he was brutally killed by Goro. This is where the speculation comes in! The sand exploding is the new timeline coming to life and the clock skipping 12 means we are going back to the beginning. Some think this means another Mortal Kombat 1 re-hash and I could understand why they would. I am thinking it means that we are going to see maybe the very first Mortal Kombat tournament.
Earth’s Mightiest Mortal
The only reason I may not be 100% on board with the idea of seeing the first Mortal Kombat is that some fan favorites could not be in the game. It would be Street Fighter 3 again and as much as I love that game, fans did not when it first came out. Fan-favorite characters go a long way for some people in things. If it is the past, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and more would not be around since it was centuries ago. These are all just theories and speculation.
My thoughts are that it is a new timeline and Liu Kang is smart enough to start gathering the people he trusts to ensure EarthRealm’s future isn’t plagued by people like Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn. What it means for who is in it and how they play, that I can’t answer. All we can do is hope Ed Boon knows how to keep the story going after another reboot.
The latest title Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate is currently out on Ps4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
“FINISH HIM!” – MK Announcer
