Days After Posting 48% Gaming Revenue Loss, Warner Bros. Surprise Drops ‘Mortal Kombat 1: Definitive Edition’ Featuring New ‘Mortal Kombat II’ Movie Skins
In a move that just seems too coincidental to be the result of both events just randomly aligning, just days after posting a massive loss in their gaming division thanks to a self-admitted lack of recent releases, Warner Bros. Discovery has come out of left field and surprise dropped a new Definitive Edition release for NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat 1.
As reported by WBD on May 8th in service of their Q1 2025 Earnings Report, when it came to the three-month period encompassing January, February, and March, their video game operations had seen their “revenue decreased [by] 48%” compared to the same time frame last year.
In explaining this financial discrepancy, the company explained that while Q1 2024 benefitted from the initial release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and steady post-launch sales of Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 1, there were conversely “no Games releases in the current year quarter.”
However, in an upside for the company’s investors, thanks to a lack of spending on new game development and their decision to cancel the aforementioned Suicide Squad‘s live-service plans earlier than expected due to its poor reception, WBD’s games division saw their “content expense decrease [by] 66%”.
In offering the only mention of said division during the related earnings call, WBD Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels affirmed that when it came to the role of video games in helping the company get back to a healthy state, “The games business, remember last year was really impacted by some misses we had in that space and David [Zaslasv, CEO] has implemented a pretty significant restructuring of that business and that should be a growth driver over the longer-term horizon here.”
Admittedly, this is a brutal result to deliver for any company, regardless of whether or not they went into the quarter with full knowledge of their eventual losses.
However, that WBD’s gaming losses were so dire that leads one to believe that their decision to immediately release the previously unannounced Mortal Kombat 1: Definitive Edition, its content including not just the game’s already available DLC but also a set of completely new character skins, less than a week after their earnings call may have been motivated more out of ‘desperation’ than ‘genuine planning’.
Launched out of nowhere on May 14th for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC platforms, the Definitive Edition, as explained in an official press release, “offers the main game packaged together with previously released downloadable content (DLC), including the Khaos Reigns story expansion, Kombat Pack, and Kombat Pack 2, along with the return of Animalities, the fan favorite finishing moves that allow all playable characters to morph into their spirit animal to annihilate defeated opponents. The Definitive Edition also adds new character skins (outfits) for Johnny Cage, Kitana, Scorpion, and Shao Kahn inspired by New Line Cinema’s upcoming Mortal Kombat II film, only in theaters this fall from Warner Bros. Pictures; the Mortal Kombat (2021) movie character skin (outfit) for Sub-Zero; and the tournament themed character skin (outfit) for Liu Kang.”
And in offering perhaps the strongest piece of evidence that this release was slapped together in an attempt to make some quick cash, while the Definitive Edition as its own package hold an expected price-tag of $60 on the Switch and $70 otherwise, the upgrade option for existing Mortal Kombat 1 owners will run those on the Switch a whopping $50, with the PlayStation, Xbox, and PC upgrade following suit at $60.
Interestingly, though neither WBD nor NetherRealm Studios have offered any official comment on the matter, the release of the Definitive Edition suggests that the latest Mortal Kombat entry is, much to the dismay of still hungry players, officially at the end of its content lifespan.
As noted above, the Mortal Kombat 1: Definitive Edition is now available for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam and Epic Games).
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