Warner Bros. has attempted to placate angry Mortal Kombat 1 players with two ‘free’ Fatalities following an outcry caused by the decision to introduce a $10 USD Fatality animation to the game’s already heavily criticised premium store.
Despite being sold as a full-price title costing £59.99/$69.99 USD, the latest entry in developer NetherRealm’s long-running fighting series features a rotational in-game shop selling store-exclusive cosmetics – including costumes and gear – only available to purchase with real-world money (in contrast, Mortal Kombat 11 also enabled players to buy cosmetics, but these could largely also be earned by completing activities in-game).
While Mortal Kombat 1’s premium store has already drawn plenty of ire from players, things came to a head last month when Warner Bros. and developer NetherRealm began selling a store-exclusive Halloween Fatality animation for $10. To put that in some kind of perspective, $20 would get you several DLC characters in Mortal Kombat 11.
The backlash was swift and loud, and Warner Bros. has now responded to complaints (thanks IGN), telling players, “We appreciate your feedback.” Of course, ‘appreciate’ and ‘listen to’ are not the same thing, and Warner Bros.’ solution isn’t to make adjustments to its store pricing, but rather to reward anyone that was willing to spend $10 on the controversial Halloween Fatality in the first place by given them two ‘free’ cosmetics – the Thanksgiving Fatality and Winter Fatality – that will appear in an upcoming premium Seasonal Bundle, itself likely to cost $30.
These kind of aggressive monetisation tactics are only likely to become more prevalent in Warner Bros. titles, of course; we already know Rocksteady’s upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will feature a (widely lambasted) cosmetics-focused battle pass, and Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav this week outlined plans to transform the company’s biggest gaming franchises from traditional console and PC releases into “always on” live service games.
Laura Adams is a tech enthusiast residing in the UK. Her articles cover the latest technological innovations, from AI to consumer gadgets, providing readers with a glimpse into the future of technology.
