When video game leaks start to surface ahead of the official launch, it is a sign that the game has massive followership. For example, Grand Theft Auto 6 leaks have exposed the likely protagonists and game maps.
It appears Mortal Kombat 12 (the name fans have chosen for the game) is going through the same ordeal. Inasmuch as a game leak is a nightmare for developers, most fans would be more than excited if they occur more frequently.
It all started with the 30th-anniversary appreciation message from the team at NetherRealm Studio. The last person to drop his appreciation message was Ed Boon, Mortal Kombat co-creator. He said, “Thank you Mortal Kombat for thirty years of amazing support, and eh… we are not quite done yet”.
After his message, there was a scene of grains of sand falling into an hourglass. The last grain exploded, sending cosmic waves across the entire screen. Although the scene was about 10 seconds in length, it was enough to spark rumors about the direction that NetherRealm plans to take the franchise.
Mortal Kombat 11 fans will easily link the hourglass to Kronika, the powerful Titan revered as the Keeper of Time. Kronika can change history, alter time, and bring people from the past to the present. This explains the meeting between the young and old Johnny Cage in MK11.
At the end of Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath (the expansion of the original story), Shang Tsung defeats Kronika and steals her crown and hourglass—which are the source of her abilities. However, Liu Kang uses a time-traveling trick to defeat Tsung and retrieve Kronika’s abilities. Kang’s ultimate plan was to resurrect his dead friends and create a new era of Mortal Kombat timeline.
Mortal Kombat 12 leak hints at title and platform
Although NetherRealm Studios and WB Games have teased that the next Mortal Kombat will be unveiled soon, fans have not heard any official announcements from the developers besides the about 10 seconds clip that came with the 30th-anniversary message.
However, a Twitter user with the handle @billbil_kun on May 11 posted what appears to be a Mortal Kombat 12 leak. The short message said the upcoming game would be called Mortal Kombat 1 and would be available on PC, PS5, Xbox Series S|X, and Nintendo Switch. The handle also went ahead to reveal the prices for the upcoming game.
Fans are taking the tweet seriously because that handle has had numerous accurate scoops in the past. Another reason why the Mortal Kombat leak from the handle should be believed is that on May 10, NetherRealm tweeted a video of a clock where the second hand jumped from 11 to 1, skipping 12.
If the title of the upcoming game turns out to be Mortal Kombat 1, it means that NetherRealm may be looking to reboot the entire series. This would not come as a surprise given the fact that most developers are rebooting their old games for next-gen consoles. The success of the Resident Evil Franchise reboot is surely going to make other developers think in that direction.
Another Mortal Kombat 12 leak suggests that new characters are coming
A YouTube handle called Rand al Thor 19 released a video that also doubles as a sort of podcast on May 13 where they talked about various games including what they know so far from the Mortal Kombat Leaks.
During the show, Jaz Corden, an industry insider, said that he heard Homelander and Peacemaker are set to join Mortal Kombat as well as Conan the Barbarian. However, Corden was unable to say if Conan the Barbarian would be Arnold Schwarzenegger’s version of the character or a more generic version.
“I don’t know if it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Conan the Barbarian or the book version of Conan the Barbarian,” Corden said. “If I have to guess, and this is a pure guess, I think the reveal will happen soon and then there will be like tune into the PlayStation to see more or something like that.”
Corden is predicting that the official reveal of Mortal Kombat will happen before the PlayStation showcase which is likely to hold on May 25, according to Grubb. Assuming all those information turns out credible, Mortal Kombat reveal will likely happen this week or early next week.
Shootin’ down the rumors
Once the rumors spread, Boon tweeted a video from @unCAGEDgamez with the message “Great video by @unCAGEDgamez shootin’ down the rumors”. According to unCAGEDgamez, nothing about the tweet from @billbil_kun was new considering the fact that all new triple-A releases are mostly restricted to next-gen consoles.
Also, unCAGEDgamez mentioned that all the prices quoted by @billbil_kun were just the average prices of most video games on the market. According to unCAGEDgamez, all the so-called Mortal Kombat leaks saying that the name was Mortal Kombat 1 only came after the clock teaser trailer from NetherRealm.
Inasmuch as the information about platforms where the next Mortal Kombat will be released is a commonsense knowledge, others like potential characters should be taken with a grain of salt. NetherRealm also revealed that it was working on another project, explaining the abrupt end of MK11’s DLC support. However, the studio never revealed what they were working on.
Mortal Kombat has a history of going back and forth in storytelling. Will having the name as Mortal Kombat 12 or changing it to Mortal Kombat 1 make any difference to you—even if it is not a reboot? Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.
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