Part of the reason for this is an earlier report from industry insider, Jeff Grubb, where he claimed that NetherRealm Studios is working on Mortal Kombat 12 next as opposed to Injustice 3. In addition to this, NetherRealm confirmed right around the same time that it had already finished working on Mortal Kombat 11, suggesting that the studio was moving on to its next project. Another piece of evidence comes by way of the now-infamous Nvidia GeForce Now leak, which gave Mortal Kombat XII an April 3, 2023 “placeholder” release date. Having said that, NetherRealm hasn’t officially confirmed that it’s working on Mortal Kombat XII or Injustice 3. But, if the recent rumors would have you believe Mortal Kombat 12 is already in development, the roster for the upcoming installment has now apparently leaked online.
Mortal Kombat 12 is effectively just a Mortal Kombat 11 re-release
NetherRealm has done a great job injecting new life into the Mortal Kombat series. After effectively rebooting the franchise with Mortal Kombat IX, NetherRealm has put in a massive effort to expand the roster with each subsequent game. It also helps that the story from Mortal Kombat IX through XI had some form of continuity, with the ending of Mortal Kombat XI suggesting that everything that had happened in every Mortal Kombat game at that point was canon and part of their reality. With Mortal Kombat XI ending on such a high note, it’s only natural for fans to expect NetherRealm not to disappoint with Mortal Kombat 12. Unfortunately, the roster itself is one of the sequel’s weakest points, should the leaks prove accurate.
— Ska’Vorah 🍂 (@SkaVorah) December 2, 2021 According to Twitter user Ska’Vorah, someone on 4chan claimed that they were a former NetherRealm employee and one of the 14 people that the studio laid off after releasing Mortal Kombat 11: Ultimate Edition earlier this year. The said employee claims that Mortal Kombat 12 is no more than a re-release of Mortal Kombat 11 and will contain characters that NetherRealm initially planned to include as part of a Kombat Pack 3 DLC for Mortal Kombat 11. The 4chan post goes on to detail how Kombat Pack 3 would have added Ermac, Harley Quinn and Takeda, into the game, but NetherRealm decided to include these characters in Mortal Kombatt 12 instead. The most interesting part about the 4chan post is that it speculate NetherRealm could announce Mortal Kombat 12 as early as December 9. This is the same date as The Game Awards 2021. Coincidentally, NetherRealm teased that it was going to announce something at the said event. Of course, it’s best to take this information with a grain of salt. Until NetherRealm makes an official announcement, none of this is confirmed. For years, NetherRealm has alternated working between Mortal Kombat and Injustice. The release of Mortal Kombat 11 in 2019 suggests that it is Injustice 3’s turn this time around. However, if NetherRealm did indeed break its usual development cycle, it would make sense for Mortal Kombat 12’s roster to suffer slightly as a result. Either way, we’ll know more for sure once The Game Awards 2021 rolls around. The upcoming awards showcase will kick off on December 9 and will feature several game reveals, announcements, as well as coronations, including the Game of the Year for 2021.
