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Does the MK/INJ lifecycle affect interest in the current game?

I was watching an interesting video today where they talked about the long lifecycle of SFV and the fact players stay invested as it’s not clear when the next game in the series is coming. You either keep playing, stop playing, or go to a different game. Because the next release isn’t obvious, complaints seem fewer and the community stay interested longer because they can’t get excited about the next release without knowing when it’s coming.

So that brings me to MK/INJ. With its ‘traditional’ two year cycle, do you think this encourages interest in quickly drop in the current game because people know another is on the horizon? We know once the new game drops, the previous game doesn’t get much more support.

Would supporting the game beyond the next release aid interest, or is it too easy for the community to switch to the next NRS hot game?
 
I think the life cycle has something to do with it, yes, as well as that the NetherRealm Community seems unable to properly devote themselves to more than one game at a time.

Having said that, it appears that they're going to "break" the cycle with Mortal Kombat 11 and keep supporting it, and adding content, for longer.

We'll see how this works out in time.
 

CrimsonShadow

Administrator and Community Engineer
Administrator
I think it would if it were longer. If it's say, 3 years instead of 2 years, it probably won't make much of a difference. But if we had to stick with a game for say, 5 or 6 years, then a lot of attitudes would definitely change.

As far as supporting the game beyond the next release though, no FG dev is really doing that. There's not much monetary value in putting developer resources into TTT2 when T7 is out, or shoveling content into Blazblue when Guilty Gear comes out, etc. It's really more up to the community to continue playing things they like in that case, without support.
 

freerf245

11 11 11 11
I think the life cycle has something to do with it, yes, as well as that the NetherRealm Community seems unable to properly devote themselves to more than one game at a time.

Having said that, it appears that they're going to "break" the cycle with Mortal Kombat 11 and keep supporting it, and adding content, for longer.

We'll see how this works out in time.
Why would they? Knowing that NRS just stops supporting the game after less than two years makes it kinda difficult to wanna commit to it. Especially when there is a new, more polished game that NRS WILL support around the corner. We're just spoiled.
 
Doesn't affect for me because I'm here mostly for MK. Don't care much for Injustice even though I buy and play it as well. But I do believe and feel like the casual community disconnects from the current game after the next is out, and this part is arguably the biggest of the audience.

I think NRS will just have to test how it goes honestly, unless they already got the numbers figured out.
 

NickDaGreek1983

Oh, my days !
Yes it does.
Big time too. On one hand, pro players' attention is caught by the new title, on the other hand casual players which make for 80% or more follow and spread the pros' toxic conments/opinions thus us having an immature community that consists of whining and complaining most of the time.
 

Marlow

Premium Supporter
Premium Supporter
I wonder if the longer life cycle just makes the complaining seem less pronounced. Seems like when SF games come out there's a ton of bemoaning the new game in favor of the past game, but I assume after awhile those people complaining about the game just leave the scene or get over it. And eventually their voices get drowned out by the next gen of gamers.
 

Marlow

Premium Supporter
Premium Supporter
We know once the new game drops, the previous game doesn’t get much more support.
I always wonder, do previous games actually need more support? NRS seems to still maintain servers, so people can still play online. If the only support the old games are not getting is no more balance patches and skins/gear/content, that doesn't seem like that big a deal to me.

Personally I kind of like it when a game "dies" because then you no longer need to worry about balance patches, you can just accept the game for what it is. Plus then you can find people who actually still enjoy playing the game, and you don't need to suffer through the endless complaint threads.

For example, I really enjoy Injustice 2, and now that MK11 came out it's been nice knowing that Injustice 2 is a finished product, and the people still playing it are the ones who actually enjoy it instead of the ones suffering through it simply because it's the most recent NRS title.
 
I always wonder, do previous games actually need more support? NRS seems to still maintain servers, so people can still play online. If the only support the old games are not getting is no more balance patches and skins/gear/content, that doesn't seem like that big a deal to me.

Personally I kind of like it when a game "dies" because then you no longer need to worry about balance patches, you can just accept the game for what it is. Plus then you can find people who actually still enjoy playing the game, and you don't need to suffer through the endless complaint threads.

For example, I really enjoy Injustice 2, and now that MK11 came out it's been nice knowing that Injustice 2 is a finished product, and the people still playing it are the ones who actually enjoy it instead of the ones suffering through it simply because it's the most recent NRS title.
I think this is a fair point. If you play any complete game now you’ve probably accepted the form the game is in.

In my eyes, this community always knows a new game is basically on the horizon soon after a new one launches. This means people will be vocal because they hold on to the next game not having issues previous games do (even if different IPs). For example the SFV community don’t know when the next game is coming, so what is the point in continually bashing the game if you know you’ll have to tolerate it for another X number of years.

I think we’ve gotten too used to thinking all our voices should be heard, and will kill a game ourselves because we know we don’t have to wait to long for the next NRS fix.
 
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Obly

Ambiguous world creator
Something to think about though-- Mortal Kombat and Injustice really are two very different FG franchises. Look and feel, tone (level of gore), the way controls work, the way neutral is played, the amount of zoning--quite different. I suppose it's possible to truly like both equally, but my guess is that most NRS players above an ultra-casual level probably prefer one over the other. And some players have a very strong preference.

While it's nice having "something for everyone" in NRS fighters, I do think it adds to the problems with the community. NRS itself may be on a two-year cycle, but fans of a particular franchise are really on a four-year cycle until they get the next game they actually want to play. Which would be totally fine if NRS actually supported (in terms of patching, DLC, etc.) the most recent game from a franchise for four years. But what happens of course is that each game gets two years of support and then nothing ever again.

That fuels toxicity in the community in at least three ways:

One, when your preferred franchise is up, you've got all your eggs in that basket. You're counting on that game being everything you need to get you through the next four years. If that game turns out to be a disappointment (like MK11 clearly has for so many MK fans), it's such a huge crushing blow (krushing blow? Ha, only a little pun intended) to morale, knowing it will be at least four more years to get something better.

Two, it fuels a sense of urgency about patching. If the game were going to be patched for four years, people would probably be more tolerant of gradual incremental changes. But when you know the two-year countdown clock is ticking, you want to see changes come relatively quickly, and it creates a lot of impatience when it seems like NRS isn't "getting it" on needed fixes.

Three, it undoubtedly adds to the "players hating the game they're playing" phenomenon. Like if you're an MK fan, sure you'll probably play Inj because it's there, but it's really not your groove. People could probably tolerate that better if the game they enjoyed was still being supported, but when you've been cut off and the only game getting support is the one you don't like, it fuels bitterness and raises the toxicity of the complaining.

Anyway, who knows if this will ever change. I wish NRS would provide four years of support for each game, but maybe it's not economically viable to do so. I guess we'll see if and how the cycle changes this time, though again, MK11 is such a departure from what old school MK fans wanted that I don't know if will make a difference.
 

Wigy

There it is...
I think its mostly the last two games being boring.

People in this community love to hate on the community