Mortal Kombat 12 Announced During Earnings Call

NetherRealm Studios has long kept to an alternating release schedule of a new Mortal Kombat or Injustice game every two years since its inception in 2011. Naturally, that has made the wait for their next project feel all the more interesting since they last released Mortal Kombat 11 in 2019. Signs and rumors have pointed towards another entry in their fatality-filled series for quite a while, but now we have a more concrete confirmation.

This news didn’t break with a new trailer or even from a public game rating. It was instead disclosed during a Warner Bros. Discovery earnings call on Thursday by Andrew Slabin, who is the Executive Vice President of Global Investor Strategy for the media conglomerate. While speaking about games set to release later this year, Slabin mentioned “the highly anticipated Mortal Kombat 12 and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.”

As surprising as it is to learn about this new project in this manner, what might just be more surprising is to hear it has an expected 2023 release date. Unlike some companies, Warner Bros. Discovery’s fiscal year runs from January to December and that means we should be seeing the new Netherrealm fighter coming out later this year. Mortal Kombat 11 had a short window of four months from reveal to launch so it’s not out of the question that the same could happen for its sequel.

It is unfortunate that we couldn’t find out from a trailer or from a manner NetherRealm Studios would have likely preferred. Ed Boon, the creative director and co-creator of the series, thankfully still had a sense of humor about the situation. For now, fans at least know they only have to be patient a little bit longer before any updates on the next entry are disclosed. It’s only natural to expect we might see it in a few months either from E3 (and similarly-timed presentations) or from the EVO championship series where Mortal Kombat 11 will be one of the headlining games.