Can we talk about NRS' "support"?

[Liquid Swordsman]

Perhaps, but it was nearly 100% longer than any of their previous games. That's a sizable increase, even if it doesn't feel like it to most.

By slowly dragging out DLC character releases. Prior to that, we had no communication for a long time until the announcement of the Aftermath/Friendship combo update. That was about the only update that kept the steam going for the game. But even with that, they still stood by their MO.

Forcing everyone to play one character at a time for 1-2 months until it was time to ghost the community for a long period and announce something when they felt like it. They intentionally did this until it was near the end of the development cycle. I don't even want to get started on the team raid bullshit they kept over hyping as the "new game mode".

The fact that the only audience that got the most incentive out of this was the cringey mainstream/megan thee stallion/mileena followers that kept harassing ed boon on twitter while everyone else that had am appreciative support of reptile, ermac, smoke, havik, ash etc. got completely got left in the dark really tells you a lot about the company. If this is the long term support they were talking about, then I felt like it was supporting Warner Bros pockets more than it did for the fans.

 

[Juxtapose]

By slowly dragging out DLC character releases. Prior to that, we had no communication for a long time until the announcement of the Aftermath/Friendship combo update. That was about the only update that kept the steam going for the game. But even with that, they still stood by their MO.

Forcing everyone to play one character at a time for 1-2 months until it was time to ghost the community for a long period, announce something when they felt like it or near the end of the development cycle. I don't even want to get started on the team raid bullshit they kept over hyping as the "new game mode".

Perhaps, but whether you approve of how it was done or not, that doesn't change the fact that it was longer.

The contents of Kombat Pack 1 were indeed spaced out roughly by two months per character. The contents of "Aftermath," the Story expansion, Stages, Characters, and Friendships were released at expansion's launch and the skin packs were spaced out over a two or three month period. Kombat Pack 2's content were released all at pack's launch, and the next gen-console enhanced were released at the same time.

Would it have been nice if we would have gotten more details and transparency, especially in the earlier days, of the overall plan and roadmap for the game? Sure. Was it required to enjoy the game? Of course not.

If you enjoy a game, play it. If not, move on.

 

[TheBeep]

I think Covid-19 basically cemented them in dropping support past KP3. Sans Covid-19 or it dropping off they porbably would have taken more time to make a more thoguht out path but Covid-19 basically made things pretty wonky.

 

[TheBeep]

what most mk fans want is a mk9 base with new characters like sfv does year after year.

That's what they say. Fans are fickle as fuck and can change at any moment. Don't be surprised if you give people what they want and they react negatively to it or don't even pick it up because they were a vocal minority who either only liked watching the game or never played the game at a semi-deep level. This is the equivalent of peopel who "yearn" for 40 man raids in MMO's but never actually ever got attuned for them or dropped them early when they debuted, they only like the idea of it but never actually played it. That's the trickiet part of listening to a fan base.

 

[trufenix]

Just a quick reminder for everyone tossing around words like "failure" or "doomed" or "hated" or really any other descriptor besides "smashing success" when discussing MK11:

Mortal Kombat 11 sales top 12 million

Mortal Kombat 11 has sold more than 12 million units worldwide, publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and developer NetherRealm Studios announced.

www.gematsu.com

 

[xWildx]

Did anyone say MK11 wasn’t a financial success? Anyone?

….crickets…

 

[Wigy]

Just a quick reminder for everyone tossing around words like "failure" or "doomed" or "hated" or really any other descriptor besides "smashing success" when discussing MK11:

Mortal Kombat 11 sales top 12 million

Mortal Kombat 11 has sold more than 12 million units worldwide, publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and developer NetherRealm Studios announced.

www.gematsu.com

And yet they dont have enough time and resources to patch shit thats been busted since day 1 apparently

 

[Immortal]

And yet they dont have enough time and resources to patch shit thats been busted since day 1 apparently

They have time and resources they just choose (by they i mean managment at WB/ATT) to use them on something else (like a new game) which will be way more profitable then patching anything (important to competitive players) and it seems to be the right choice for them, since every MK just sells even better then the previous one.

I'm not saying it's good (for competitive players) to do it this way, im just saying they're making smart bussines decisions and will continue to do so.. coz at the end of the day this is a bussines.

 

[Pizza]

Did anyone say MK11 wasn’t a financial success? Anyone?

….crickets…

That's his secret, Captain. He's always angry.

 

[Revy]

Just a quick reminder for everyone tossing around words like "failure" or "doomed" or "hated" or really any other descriptor besides "smashing success" when discussing MK11:

Mortal Kombat 11 sales top 12 million

Mortal Kombat 11 has sold more than 12 million units worldwide, publisher Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and developer NetherRealm Studios announced.

www.gematsu.com

It was doomed from the get-go:

‘Mortal Kombat 11’ Game Devs Allege Toxic Work Conditions at Warner Bros. Interactive’s NetherRealm

Reports of low pay and the crunch of extreme overtime as workers tried to finish the game on time initially surfaced about NetherRealm Studio on social media earlier in April.

“Everybody said from the get-go, ‘No, this isn’t going to impact any development time at all; we should be fine. We’ll use the content we have now,’” the employee recalled. “Little did our creative director, our publishing team and marketing know that we were already about three months behind on the entire game.’”
“So they had to pull everybody off, set everybody back another month and a half so we could we could make ourselves look good for MK Day,” he continued. “So that set back design, that set back QA [quality assurance], programming, animation — mostly every department had to start playing catch-up.”

The catch-up still persists, even though “Mortal Kombat 11” was released on April 23. Problems with in-game currency and exploits have the studio working on its third patch to fix glitches, and it already has two more patches planned.

“The [Mortal Kombat] team’s stance is that crunch works, and MK games are always profitable, so it’s clearly the right thing to do,” James Longstreet wrote in a follow-up tweet. “It’s wrong — crunch doesn’t work, the workers don’t see the profit (bonuses at WB games are capped to a small percentage of salary), and it ruins lives.”

 

[Wigy]

They have time and resources they just choose (by they i mean managment at WB/ATT) to use them on something else (like a new game) which will be way more profitable then patching anything (important to competitive players) and it seems to be the right choice for them, since every MK just sells even better then the previous one.

I'm not saying it's good (for competitive players) to do it this way, im just saying they're making smart bussines decisions and will continue to do so.. coz at the end of the day this is a bussines.

Heard the argument. Just making the point the company making shits tonnes compared to the the other fighting games seems to put the absolute least money back into the game unless they can monetise it after.

 

[M2Dave]

Heard the argument. Just making the point the company making shits tonnes compared to the the other fighting games seems to put the absolute least money back into the game unless they can monetise it after.

This.

And as someone on EventHubs said "These days MK is for everyone except for its own fans. No wonder it keeps selling that much..."

Ed Boon wants to talk about "support", yet the company that he works for does not have an ounce of respect to support the game for the fans who still play.

The hypocrisy is egregious.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

It was doomed from the get-go:

‘Mortal Kombat 11’ Game Devs Allege Toxic Work Conditions at Warner Bros. Interactive’s NetherRealm

The ironic thing is that we went from this:

id rather wait a year longer for my mk than have people work like this

As a fan of NRS and Mk this is fucking sad to read. Why are companies doing this oto workers? No wonder there is a high turnover rate in general in this business. I remember when I was younger I wanted to make video games. It seems like an awful idea now. This is unhealthy and I feel bad for everyone who has been ran into the ground by this.

... to raging about why those same employees can't work on two games at once after a yearlong COVID lockdown.

 

[Immortal]

Heard the argument. Just making the point the company making shits tonnes compared to the the other fighting games seems to put the absolute least money back into the game unless they can monetise it after.

This is true but sadly is also a moot point, since this wont change unless.. idk you buy NRS from ATT and make them care about competitive community.

This.

And as someone on EventHubs said "These days MK is for everyone except for its own fans. No wonder it keeps selling that much..."

Ed Boon wants to talk about "support", yet the company that he works for does not have an ounce of respect to support the game for the fans who still play.

The hypocrisy is egregious.

Not really. You seem to think that MK fans are competitive playes only.... That's not true at all. All of those MILLIONS of casuals who buy the game are MK fans and NRS/ATT care a lot for them, they literally make the game specificaly for them.

Also Ed Boon has very little or even less to say in current NRS let alone in decision making of ATT/WB. You should all really understand NRS is pretty much a pure corporation now... (now = for years now) . They have close to 0 interest in making competitive players happy coz there is very little money to make from them. They make the game for millions of casuals (who are also fans of the MK).

 

[xRantex]

I think it should be made for competitive players. Look at sf and Tekken. People didn't buy mk11 cause of krushing blows it sold that well due to its popularity, nostalgia. It's gonna sell regardless just make it good for competitive players to take it seriously. Still imo this the worst mk ever worst than mkdc or mka. The roster is lackluster just like the mechanics.

 

[xRantex]

It's kinda annoying when people write paragraphs on how the game is perfect well if it was then why would they stop supporting it this soon? Because it's screwed that's why. I doubt they'll make the same mistake twice and if they do I'm out lol been having fun with Tekken 7 a game that rewards you for knowing fundamentals.

 

[theotherguy]

I think it should be made for competitive players.

That is no doubt the smartest way to go about it. Those that don't care still get the benefits of a better game, and those that do care appreciate the effort. BUT when you're selling copies like MK does, the extra time/effort to do that doesn't really reconcile with the extra sales you may receive. In reality had they done everything people on TYM asked for, do you think they would have sold 14,15 or 20million copies instead? Highly unlikely. So why bother when you can move all your resources to the next project and sell another ~12million copies in 2yrs?

And for all the "i'm not going to buy an NRS game ever again" hot air - since forever - they're still selling more than ever.

why would they stop supporting it this soon? Because it's screwed that's why.

Or maybe because they're off to create their next 12million copies selling game, instead of spending time to tweak something that has already probably smashed every expectation they had of the game.

The confirmation bias with some of the posts on here is getting to the point of being delusional. Just because something happened that you can thread some vague line of reasoning isn't a confirmation of your suspicions.

 

[xRantex]

Yes I'm sure mk9 numbers was about the same. Like I said people didn't buy this game cause of krushing blows it sold well cause of popularity and nostalgia.

BUT when you're selling copies like MK does, the extra time/effort to do that doesn't really reconcile with the extra sales you may receive. In reality had they done everything people on TYM asked for, do you think they would have sold 14,15 or 20million copies instead?



Or maybe because they're off to create their next 12million copies selling game.

Yeah my problem with that is now we have to wait 3 years for another mk game when it could have lasted longer than 2 years like Tekken and sf why can't mk do the same. After this game I'm going right back to mkx simply cause it's better.

 

[xRantex]

I think the only people that have no problem with this game is losers that embrace the krushing blow mechanic any real fighting game player can see it's flaws from a mile away.

 

[OutWorldAleMerchant]

NRS support means leaving an existing "glitch" inside of Injustice 2 where you pay for 2000 bonus tokens you never get. Had it happen to me and occasionally see others complain about it on steam

 

[theotherguy]

Did anyone say MK11 wasn’t a financial success? Anyone?

Maybe not in those words exactly but here's a video of someone talking about MK11 not being able to reach MKX sales numbers. Seems that video didn't age well.

Yeah my problem with that is now we have to wait 3 years for another mk game when it could have lasted longer than 2 years like Tekken and sf why can't mk do the same.

I'm 100% in support for them to do the same. I'd rather play a constantly tweaked MK11 for the next 3yrs over any new DC/Marvel game. But as much as we might want it, they don't seem to want to have a game live on with official support in that way. I don't see the point in beating that drum when it's clear they're just not interested.

That said, i'd love for someone to ask Boon why they don't want to do long term support like other fighters.

 

[xWildx]

Maybe not in those words exactly but here's a video of someone talking about MK11 not being able to reach MKX sales numbers. Seems that video didn't age well.




I'm 100% in support for them to do the same. I'd rather play a constantly tweaked MK11 for the next 3yrs over any new DC/Marvel game. But as much as we might want it, they don't seem to want to have a game live on with official support in that way. I don't see the point in beating that drum when it's clear they're just not interested.

That said, i'd love for someone to ask Boon why they don't want to do long term support like other fighters.

Who tf is Tooten?

 

[Revy]

I think when it comes to sales, you have to give the promotional team some credit & major props because they deserve it. I find MK11 ads everywhere online, ads on previous titles, on Xbox whenever it goes on sale which seems to be often & so many other places.Maybe it's because of cookies, I don't know but I don't remember any other NRS title or any other fighting game being so well promoted even Smash or UFC games.

 

[Komatose]

Can we rename this thread to “Can we not talk about NRS support”? So we can all simultaneously just not talk about this?

 

[M2Dave]

Not really. You seem to think that MK fans are competitive playes only.... That's not true at all. All of those MILLIONS of casuals who buy the game are MK fans and NRS/ATT care a lot for them, they literally make the game specificaly for them.

Also Ed Boon has very little or even less to say in current NRS let alone in decision making of ATT/WB. You should all really understand NRS is pretty much a pure corporation now... (now = for years now) . They have close to 0 interest in making competitive players happy coz there is very little money to make from them. They make the game for millions of casuals (who are also fans of the MK).

Most of those "MILLIONS" of casual players who have purchased Mortal Kombat 11 would have also purchased another Kombat Pack that included more characters, more stages, and more story line content. Nobody is talking about only releasing a patch or hotfix that only affects a couple of thousand players who play the game competitively. The fact is that Kombat Pack 3 would have sold and turned a profit among casual and competitive players alike.

Speaking of turning a profit, I understand that every fighting game company, not just NRS, is a business that is attempting to do the same. Nobody is expected to work ten hour shifts for free or for the benefits of the FGC. Labor has and should always have a price tag. Speaking of labor now, if people are concerned about NRS, which is owned and operated by Warner Bros whose net worth is $6 billion according to Google, exploiting or overworking its staff, they should lambaste the company instead of making excuses because they like Mortal Kombat 11.

Indeed, the online apologia on behalf of Warner Bros. and NRS must stop, particularly when their prominent competitors, namely Nintendo, Capcom, and Namco, communicate regularly with their respective fan base and exhibit a superior balance of pleasing both the casual and competitive players while turning a profit. Perhaps Capcom, another multi billion dollar company not unlike Warner Bros., has set the best standard. They stated that the development of the new project has been delayed but that more content would be released for Street Fighter 5, a season 5 that features five DLC characters, with three yet to be released, and the incorporation of a major gameplay mechanic.

In the meantime, Ed Boon had been trolling and teasing fans on Twitter about more content, and when fans became excited, he called them entitled.

Keep the excuses coming, though.