Speaking to Summer Game Fest’s Geoff Keighley, Ed Boon says Mortal Kombat and Injustice aren’t the only thing NetherRealm Studios has up its sleeves.
NetherRealm Studios’ Creative Director Ed Boon recently shared that the studio has other games in the works besides their Mortal Kombat and Injustice franchises. NetherRealm Studios has been busy since their start in 2010, rising out of the bankruptcy of Midway Games and their subsequent acquisition by Warner Bros. just a year prior, and it looks like that will not be changing anytime soon according to Boon.
Boone has been working on Mortal Kombat since the very beginning, being one of the game’s co-creators while at Midway. Since the release of the first Mortal Kombat in 1992, Boon has been behind the evolution of not just the series, but also fighting games as a whole. With Midway’s closing and Boone now working under Warner Bros., the quality of his projects have continued to rise. Injustice 2 released in 2017 and was followed by Mortal Kombat 11 in 2019. Both titles received high praise from both critics and fans following their releases, and both also brought in high sales numbers to go with it. With two solid releases back-to-back, the industry has been keeping a close eye on what the studio does next.
However, according to Boon himself, whatever NetherRealm’s next release is, it is not going to be another entry in their current franchises. Recently, he joined a Summer Game Fest Q&A Periscope stream with host Geoff Keighley, during which they talked about Mortal Kombat 11, the upcoming Aftermath DLC, the next generation of consoles, and even a new title. Prompted by Keighley’s admiration for his storied career, Boon remarked,
“Mortal Kombat has become like a staple thing, almost Marvel-like. You don’t expect the last Marvel movie to ever come out, they’re just gonna keep coming. Even though we’ve been able to scratch other itches, you know doing Injustice games and stuff, and we have other stuff in the oven, but it’s always nice to do the Mortal Kombat games.”
Boon did not comment further on what the, “other stuff in the oven,” was, but he did go on to share his excitement at the potential that the next generation of consoles possesses. In the stream, Boon also noted that “this new way of handling memory and loading and stuff like that is gonna be huge.” Considering the next console generation is virtually right around the corner at this point, it’s not too hard to assume that NetherRealm’s unnamed project is also benefiting the latest leap in hardware.
One of the praises both Injustice 2 and Mortal Kombat 11 received was for how well-spun their stories were, but almost every game NetherRealm has made since their founding have been fighting games. The sole exception was 2011’s Batman: Arkham City Lockdown mobile game, so perhaps this untitled project could be something more expansive or even more narrative driven. It is unknown what exactly those “other itches,” were, so at the moment it is hard to say what exactly NetherRealm have their sights set on. But given the experience at the studio and their track record, they should be given the benefit of the doubt as the video game industry prepares to enter a world of new technology.
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Source: Periscope
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About The AuthorKyle Wheelock is a writer, photographer, casual RPG player, and amateur cook from Houston. Formerly a writer for the NTTV entertainment-news program Nerd Alert, Kyle now contributes to Screen Rant as a gaming news writer.
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