Superheroes have found a safe home within video games, and it is not hard to understand why. With their superpowers and their outlandish outfits, they lend themselves well to the kinds of gaming adventures that players love to enjoy. Consequently, in recent years, franchises like Insomniac’sSpider-ManandEidos-Montréal’sGuardians of the Galaxyhave been smash hits that have sold millions of copies and helped boost the popularity of the superheroes that grace their covers. Sitting alongside these titans is NetherRealmsInjusticefranchise, a fighting game series featuring some of the most recognizable heroes and villains from the DC universe.
The first game,Injustice: Gods Among Us, launched in 2013, and it was the bestselling game in the US in the month of its release. Its sequel,Injustice 2, was similarly successful, becoming the highest-grossing game in the second quarter of 2017 when it launched. Naturally, gamers would expect to see moreInjusticegames being pumped out, but things may not be so simple. Due to licensing issues and NetherRealm’s commitment toMortal Kombat, there is no guarantee that there will be moreInjusticegames.
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NetherRealm Has to Juggle Injustice and Mortal Kombat
TheInjusticevideo game series is directed by Ed Boon, who is no stranger to the gaming world. His break into gaming came in 1992 when he and his team consisting of four other people released a game calledMortal Kombat. There were other fighting games around at the time, includingStreet Fighter 2, butMortal Kombatmanaged to stand out from its competitors by featuring supernatural moves and including stomach-churning gore. Players were instantly hooked onMortal Kombat’s ultra-violence, and its finishing moves, known as Fatalities, are frequently referenced in pop culture.
The success ofMortal Kombatcannot be understated. It currently sits as the best-selling fighting game franchise of all time, with the latest entry,Mortal Kombat 11, selling over 12 million copies globally by 2021. In total, the series has sold over 73 million copies, making it a very profitable IP for NetherRealm. However, this should not blind one to the success ofInjustice, as the latest entry,Injustice 2, attracted droves of gamers and sold 1.5 million copies within three months of its release.
Typically, NetherRealm has bounced betweenInjusticeandMortal Kombattitles, and this has been a good strategy thus far. In 2011, the studio releasedMortal Kombatand the next game from the studio wasInjustice: Gods Among Usin 2013. When 2015 rolled around, the studio releasedMortal Kombat 10, and then it releasedInjustice 2in 2017 andMortal Kombat 11in 2019. According to the pattern, a newInjusticegame should be next, but leaks and reports suggest NetherRealm may favor the more successfulMortal Kombatseries by releasingMortal Kombat 12instead.
In August 2021, industry insider Jeff Grubb claimed that NetherRealm was working onMortal Kombat 12, which was a strange claim, as gamers were waiting forInjustice 3. However, his claim was given greater evidence when, in January 2022, Jonathan Anderson, who works at NetherRealm, Tweeted out an image of his desk which had pictures ofMortal Kombat 11andInjustice. On the corner of the image, his screen can be seen, and if one zooms in, the words “MK12_Mast…” are visible. Many have interpreted it as a clue that the studio has been working onMortal Kombat. This leak may not be so accidental, because an email is also partially visible which reads “our fans eagerly scrape the internet for any trace” as well as “take extra care with this,” which makes it appear that it may be an intentional, albeit quite clever, teaser.
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On some level, it is understandable why NetherRealm would choose to work onMortal Kombatinstead ofInjustice. AlthoughInjusticehas been a success, it is still dwarfed byMortal Kombat. Furthermore, the studio has been facing its own uncertain times, which may make further partnership withDC Comicsa bit harder.
Warner Bros. Discovery and NetherRealm’s Future
In 2017, AT&T acquired Time Warner, expanding its reach in the media industry. The media industry was shaken up again when AT&T and Discovery started discussing a merger between Discovery, Inc. and WarnerMedia. It took a few years, and a lot of deliberation, but the new entity formed by the merger, Warner Bros. Discovery, began operating in 2022. This had implications for the gaming industry, and NetherRealm Studios in particular, because it is owned byWarner Bros. Games, which is part of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The merger leaves NetherRealm’s future uncertain since the subsidiaries of what was WarnerMedia have been getting sold quite frequently, including TMZ which was sold to Fox Corporation and Playdemic which was part of Warner Bros. Games. It is not too outlandish to imagine that NetherRealm could also see itself getting sold, especially when one considered the fact that AT&T had once considered selling off Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, but abandoned the idea whenCOVID-19 caused the gaming industry to flourish in 2020.
If NetherRealm ever gets sold, it would make the creation of a newInjusticegame very difficult, mostly because DC Entertainment, which owns DC Comics, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Hence, acquiring all the licensing for all the DC Comics characters that appear inInjusticewould not be as easy, or may even be impossible. Grubb discussed this fact, stating that this may be the reason that NetherRealm would favorMortal KombatoverInjusticegoing forward. As he explains, withMortal Kombat, “you don’t have to use any of theseBatman or Supermancharacters that might be tied up in licensing if you try to get rid of NetherRealm or sell it to whoever.”
None of this means that gamers will never see anotherInjusticegame. However, things do look bleak, which is unfortunate because theInjusticeseries brings just as much fun asMortal Kombat. Forces outside NetherRealm’s control may prevent a newInjusticetitle from being created, though if the stars align, things may work out positively and the studio may be able to churn out another superhero game.
Injusticeis available on Mobile, PC, PS3, PS4, PS Vita, Wii U, and Xbox 360.
