Ed Boon Denies Mortal Kombat, Injustice TGA 2022 Game Announcements

The Game Awards are a prominent place for a developer or publisher to deliver a surprise announcement for a new title. Sometimes, though, one has to clarify when something isn’t going to happen. That was the case with NetherRealm Studios Chief Creative Officer Ed Boon, who took to Twitter to announce that the studio is “not ready” to announce its next game. This means no Mortal Kombat or Injustice game announcement.

4 years ago at the Game Awards we managed to pull off a surprise announcement of MK11, which turned out great.

Perhaps too great, as many assumed we'd repeat that trick for our next game.

Thank you for the anticipation, but we're not ready to announce the next NRS game yet.🙏 pic.twitter.com/QMXsuEPchR

— Ed Boon (@noobde) December 2, 2022

In the announcement (or rather, the denial of an announcement), Boon referred to the 2018 Game Awards event, when NetherRealm successfully announced Mortal Kombat 11, the current game in its hyperviolent fighting series. The game went on to sell more than 12 million copies by 2021.

According to Boon, fans and onlookers assumed that the studio would try a similar surprise for its next title. With four years being an average development time for a new title in a major commercial game franchise, anticipation is building for whatever the studio behind Mortal Kombat and Injustice has planned next. Boon thus put the dampers on speculation by denying outright that the studio has an announcement planned for the 2022 Game Awards. In fact, Boon had confirmed before that NetherRealm Studios does not intend to show anything within 2022. In October 2022, Boon said that the studio would not be revealing the in-development Mortal Kombat 12 during its celebration of the franchise’s 30 year anniversary.

In other words, fans impatient for info on Mortal Kombat 12 or Injustice 3 – two projects that NetherRealm is confirmed to be working on – will have to keep waiting.

Mortal Kombat 11 is available on the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.