Mortal Kombat 1 tracks behind MK11 with ‘just’ 5 million copies sold so far

Contrary to its prior release schedule, NetherRealm went straight from MK11 to Mortal Kombat 1 – skipping their previous cadence of breaking up Mortal Kombat releases with a new Injustice game. This seems to have worked against the series, as following the record-breaking release of MK11, Mortal Kombat 1 has so far ‘only’ managed to sell 5 million copies.

Making the announcement on Twitter, the head of NetherRealm Studios – Ed Boon – shared some details on future updates for Mortal Kombat 1. Alongside this, Boon also offered some details on the sales performance for MK1, stating:

“With over 5 million games sold, seeing Mortal Kombat 1 still in the top 15 most played Playstation 5 games makes us very grateful to Mortal Kombat fans. Thanks for continuing to support NetherRealm Studios games!”

While pitched as a positive, 5 million copies sold is a major drop-off when compared to the previous entry – Mortal Kombat 11 – which managed to break 15 million sales in its first 3 years on the market.

Of course, 2023’s MK1 hasn’t been out long enough for a direct 1:1 comparison, but with future DLC for the game having been cancelled already,  the game is unlikely to have majorly long legs.

The general sentiment around Mortal Kombat 1 seems to be that NetherRealm was a bit premature with its release – and it seems the game’s sales are reflecting this fact.

It will be interesting to see what NetherRealm plans to work on next. Hopefully not another Mortal Kombat (at least for now).

KitGuru says: What do you think of Mortal Kombat 1? Is it a worthy sequel to MK11? What do you think NetherRealm’s next game will be? Let us know down below.

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