For over a decade now, the cinematic Story Mode has been one of the biggest draws of new Mortal Kombat games that the last game found great success building upon, and it looks like that’ll be carrying over to the new title as well.
Mortal Kombat 1 will officially be receiving a Story Mode expansion in similar fashion to Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, and we now have confirmation of when DC’s Peacemaker is coming to the game next year too.
At CCXP 2023, MK Co-creator Ed Boon was asked directly about what’s coming down the line for the franchise, and he certainly had some interesting things to say.
“Just like we did with Mortal Kombat 11, we’re going to release a second part with more story, and we have a big surprise after that,” said Boon. “So we’re going to be supporting the game for even longer than we did for Mortal Kombat 11. It’s gonna be fun.”
This probably doesn’t come as a huge shock to fans considering how well received Aftermath was for the most part, and it gives NetherRealm a different way to support the game beyond DLC characters and their accessories.
.@noobde: “just like we did with MK11, we’re going to release a second part with more story and we have a big surprise after that.” #MortalKombat #MK1 #CCXP #MortalKombat1 pic.twitter.com/w1o2Xgm7sN
— Wesley Carlos (@WesleyLPBR) December 3, 2023
We won’t get into spoilers here, but the end of MK1’s Story Mode also felt as though it was setting up for something bigger to be coming.
They obviously didn’t say when this expansion will be coming out although it’ll still probably be quite a bit of time before we get it in our hands.
Aftermath released in May 2020, which was around a year and one month after Mortal Kombat 11 itself, so if they follow a similar trajectory, the soonest we’d see more story content for MK1 would be October 2024.
There’s also the matter of the “big surprise” mentioned too, which could be Kombat Pack 2 or perhaps something entirely different.
As for Peacemaker, the latest press release and The Game Awards social page confirms that the Suicide Squad member will be coming in February 2024.
Peacemaker in Mortal Kombat 1 will feature the voice and likeness of actor @JohnCena and will be available as part of the Kombat Pack and à la carte in Feb. 2024. pic.twitter.com/f0f9IM9atn
— The Game Awards (@thegameawards) December 3, 2023
That does line up with the previous PlayStation Support leak online except now we can see that their date for Quan Chi doesn’t line up with the actual one for this month.
Since we just got the Quan Chi trailer, however, it may be too soon for another one at The Game Awards this week, but we should probably watch out just in case.
Boon’s mention of support also seems to match what Warner Bros. recently claimed they hope to continue working on MK1 for 3–4 years instead of the usual 1–2 years for past NRS fighting games.
That came at the same time they announced Mortal Kombat 1 had sold almost 3 million copies at the start of November, so that number is probably quite a bit higher now.