Warner Bros. Fighting Game In Development From Mortal Kombat Studio?
The new Warner Bros fighting game sounds wild. Here's what we know.
This article is more than 2 years old
Following the massive success of 2018’s Super Smash Ultimate crossover fighting game, many studios have begun to capitalize on the opportunity to create a platform fighting game based on their own IPs. Some of the latest leaks corroborate that claim, sharing alleged concepts and details behind NetherRealm’s Smash Ultimate-inspired gaming title, featuring Warner Bros. characters. Recently leaked information on Reddit, shared by the anonymous source via a “throwaway account,” suggested that the NetherRealm’s next gaming title, potentially called Multiversus, will be a tag-team-based platform-fighter game – which would be a complete departure from the studio’s Injustice and Mortal Kombat series of games.
Instead, the alleged game will feature characters from a wide variety of Warner Bros. franchises and cartoons, including Gandalf, Fred Flintstone, Shaggy from Scooby-Doo, Tom & Jerry, Batman, Mad Max etc. Admittedly, the rumor sounds like an absurd mixture of franchises battling each other through fighting game mechanics; it was given some credibility due to the copyright tag for the game called Multiversus, which was filed September 27, 2021. But is it really possible that NetherRealm Studios is breaking its bi-yearly cycle between Mortal Kombat and Injustice? With Mortal Kombat 11 released just two years ago, a third installment in the Injustice series sounds far more logical than working on a crossover platform brawler game. But the studio has been relatively quiet since the release of Mortal Kombat 11, and we’ve still heard no news about the highly-anticipated Injustice 3.
With everything said, industry insider, Jeff Grubb has corroborated the suggested information regarding the new platform fighting game being in the works at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. According to Grubb, however, the part that claims that NetherRealm Studios, a subsidiary of WB Interactive Entertainment, is developing the game isn’t true. After the aforementioned leak surfaced, Grubb disclosed some information about the project online, corroborating that the alleged match is real, but clarified that NetherRealm Studios has no ties with the project.
The idea of NetherRealm Studios being in on the project, at least according to the leaker, originated due to an internet meme that depicts Shaggy from Scooby-Doo, crossing over into Mortal Kombat in his “Ultra Instinct” form (a Dragon Ball Super reference). Allegedly, NetherRealm Studios wasn’t going to put a character like Shaggy in a hyper-violent gaming title such as Mortal Kombat, so the idea was tossed around. However, Warner Bros., being a reactionary company as always, liked the idea of combining their properties to establish more crossovers and get a piece of the money pie generated by the Smash Ultimate-inspired gaming titles.
Warner Bros. still hasn’t commented or confirmed the leak, so the credibility of said information regarding a crossover fighting game remains under a question mark. However, given Grubb’s corroboration, and the leaker-provided copyright tag for a new IP called Multiversus, the whole thing seems quite convincing at this point. According to the information leaked on Reddit, the publisher will officially announce the game at The Game Awards on December 9, or sometime in early 2022.
