Mortal Kombat 1 Dev Chief Ed Boon Teases T-1000 Fatality and ‘Future DLC’

Mortal Kombat 1's Ed Boon Hints at Future DLC After Five Million Copies Sold

Ed Boon, the creative director behind Mortal Kombat 1, recently revealed a sneak peek of the upcoming T-1000 Terminator's Fatality on social media, alongside a cryptic tease hinting at future downloadable content (DLC).

The announcement coincided with the release of the Conan the Barbarian guest character, with Boon proudly proclaiming that Mortal Kombat 1 has surpassed five million copies sold, a significant increase from the previously reported four million. A short video showcasing one of the T-1000's Fatalities, a nod to the iconic Terminator 2 truck chase scene, accompanied the news.

Boon's accompanying tweet, "With Conan getting into player’s hands, we are excited to keep trucking forward with future DLC!", sparked considerable speculation within the Mortal Kombat community. While the statement could simply refer to the imminent arrival of the T-1000, many fans interpret it as a subtle hint towards additional DLC characters beyond the current Khaos Reigns expansion.

The T-1000 marks the final character in the Khaos Reigns expansion, which also includes Cyrax, Sektor, Noob Saibot, Ghostface, and Conan the Barbarian. The question of a potential third DLC pack or "Kombat Pack 3" has been a recurring topic among fans, fueled by the game's sales success.

Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company, has expressed continued confidence in the Mortal Kombat franchise. CEO David Zaslav stated in November that the company plans to heavily invest in only four game titles, with Mortal Kombat being one of them. Adding further intrigue, Boon himself confirmed in September that NetherRealm had already decided on its next game three years prior, while assuring fans of continued support for Mortal Kombat 1 "for a long time to come."

Speculation points towards a third installment in the Injustice fighting game franchise as NetherRealm's next project, although this remains unconfirmed by either NetherRealm or Warner Bros. The previous Injustice titles, Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013) and Injustice 2 (2017), suggest a pattern of alternating between Mortal Kombat and Injustice releases. However, the release of Mortal Kombat 1 in 2023, a soft reboot, broke this pattern.

In a June 2023 interview with IGN, Boon offered a nuanced explanation for this decision, citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the team's transition to a newer version of the Unreal Engine (Unreal Engine 4 for Mortal Kombat 1, compared to Unreal Engine 3 for Mortal Kombat 11) as significant contributing factors. He explicitly confirmed that the Injustice franchise remains a possibility for future development.