Another day, another news of layoffs hit the gaming industry. NetherRealm Studios, the American-based video game developer who delivered the Mortal Kombat series of games has reportedly shut down and mass laid off all of its staff, leaving the franchise with an uncertain future.
Update on July 20, 2024: NetherRealm Studios confirmed on X that the game will continue to operate smoothly and will receive full support from the team.
Mortal Kombat franchise needed a healthy revival but is now without a developer
Quality Assurance Analyst and Software Developer Tony Lazzara took to LinkedIn and shared that the mobile team of NetherRealm has been shut down, leaving many talented individuals, including himself, out of work. The team had been responsible for developing several titles, such as Mortal Kombat Mobile, Injustice 2, and Mortal Kombat Onslaught.
Another former employee has also confirmed the news. Animator Elizabeth Ramirez, who had about 10 years of service with the company, shared that she was laid off as well. The Warner Bros. Games-owned company has at least 50 employees affected by the recent layoffs, various sources report. With this news emerging, the future of Mortal Kombat games is now in question.
NetherRealm Studios has a history of successfully bringing their games to multiple platforms, including mobile, which was quite successful. However, the last title they released in the franchise on mobile was Mortal Kombat: Onslaught, which was pretty average if you ask me, and maybe the issues might have stemmed since then.
Mortal Kombat, once a reliable money-maker for Warner Bros., hasn’t been performing well for some time. I believe his recent lack of success might have contributed to the decision to shut down the development team. Although the company had expressed an intention to focus on mobile and free-to-play titles earlier in March, this recent news casts doubt on those plans.
However, it is glad that the Mortal Kombat franchise will continue as the developers gave the assurance for it. Still, after the shut down there isn’t any exact details whether they will bring in a new group of developers to continue making new mobile games, but only time will tell.
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