Mortal Kombat and Injustice are franchises that people always seem to have an on-and-off relationship with. With some great and a few not-so-great titles, it feels that NetherRealm could never truly establish its footing properly within the FGC and the larger gaming community.
Perhaps it is the by-product of the same that we’re witnessing today, as the studio’s shocking decision to shut down one of its most significant cash-cow subsidiaries has left fans wondering just what’s in store for this team’s future.
NetherRealm Studios Has Unceremoniously Shut Its Entire Mobile Team
It’s only been a few days since the people behind Mortal Kombat teased fans with a potential spin-off, assuring people that the franchise, and by extension, the studio’s future, is as bright as it gets.
The reality appears to be a little off, unfortunately, as many of NetherRealm Studio‘s mobile team folks came out on LinkedIn sharing how their entire team has now been laid off.
NetherRealm Studios mobile team was shut down pic.twitter.com/Agv3ESFbUj
— Timur222 (@bogorad222) July 18, 2024
As one would expect, reactions to this shocking news have only been overwhelmingly negative, with many feeling confused more than anything about the matter and what exactly is going on with the studio at the moment.
Right now, many speculate that given the team’s untimely end, this also marks the unfortunate end of Mortal Kombat Mobile and Injustice 2 Mobile‘s future. It’s a matter of when rather than if:
@Cactuspack @MKMobileGame why are you guys laying off this division? This is pretty much the end for MKM and Inj2
— SJ (@Diegen_SOL) July 18, 2024
While it’s important to wait for a statement from the rest of the studio on what exactly went down here, there’s no arguing that NetherRealm’s mobile titles have been just as successful as their console and PC counterparts.
Not to mention, given their nature as heavily monetized games, it’s easy to assume that they must’ve been more profitable for the studio in the long term and would have been the main cash cow to sustain their larger works.
Considering this, one has to wonder whether all is well with the studio and whether the promised future truly was as bright as it was made out to be.
What Could Be the Reason Behind NetherRealm Studio’s Recent Lay-Offs?
Most readers would already be aware that Mortal Kombat 1 has been a very successful game for the studio, being one of the more balanced games in the series and with multiple content updates coming into it to this day.
However, the FGC side of things reveals a rather strange story, seeing how the game failed to break the top 5 in most competed-on games of the year. This signals that something is severely missing here that is harming the game’s prolonged sustainability.
Interestingly enough, this has been repeated time and again with both Injustice 2 and MK11, making it clear that there may be some game design issue here that extends to mobile games, too. This could also give us a clue about what’s been happening.
The more straightforward take, however, would be to blame it on corporate greed. Granted, this particular studio has never been in the spotlight for the same, but let’s not forget that Warner Bros. owns them. Could this mean that we have lost yet another promising team of developers to the gaming industry’s greed? Only time will tell.
With that out of the way, what are your thoughts on the sacking? Do you have any theories on what could be happening behind the scenes? Let us know in the comments below!
