Summary
Mortal Kombat 1, like other major fighting games, hosts a thriving competitive community alongside its casual audience. While casual players make up the bulk of any game’s player base, titles that qualify as esports will often have their direction shaped by competition;Mortal Kombat 1is no different. East Coast Throwdown, a major fighting game tournament, was held at the end of October, and immediately following it,MK1received its first balance patch. While a major patch shouldn’t be expected after every big appearance for the game, the rhythm of following up a major tournament with an update is prevalent throughout the genre.
In a time when the monolith of esports has struggled, fighting games have stood apart and thrived. Tournaments like EVO 2023 set attendance records, withStreet Fighter 6pulling in a huge crowd.CompetitiveMortal Komabt 1seems to be enjoying success as well. ECT is a smaller tournament, butMK1was the second-most-played title behindSF6. While many fighting games enjoy success early on,Guilty Gear: Strivedominated the fighting game scene until the launch ofSF6, and has remained one of the most entered games still, so topping it is a big achievement, even for a massive franchise likeMortal Kombat.
While the game’s entrance numbers at EVO 2024will be a better litmus test of its health, it is getting a strong start.
RELATED:Why MK1’s Kombat Pack Release Schedule is Good But Odd
Mortal Kombat 1Patches Will Arrive During Competitive Breaks
East Coast Throwdown wasMortal Kombat1’s first major competitive event, but it is also one of the final major fighting game tournaments of the year outside game-specific championships. TheofficialMK1North American esports page has no other events listed in 2023 as part of the tour. Patching the game following ECT makes sense since it will give competitors time to learn the impact ofMK1’s first major balance patchbefore the next big event. While it didn’t receive character balance changes,Street Fighter 6also received a major update that altered important aspects of the game a month after launch in the run-up to EVO 2023, giving players time to grasp the changes.
Mortal Kombat 1’s Next Balance Patch Could Take a Long Time
Breaks in competitive fighting games are often filled with patches and could hint at whenMK1will get balance updates and new characters.Mortal Kombat 1’s next major balance patch, if not released before the end of January, will likely fall next summer afterEVO 2024or, even more likely, at the end ofMortal Kombat’s dedicated competitive season for 2024. Generally speaking, one can assume the following:
Competitive Play Will Dictate Balance forMK1
On top of influencing the flow of updates and content releases, tournament performance and the opinion of the competitive scene aroundMortal Kombat 1will impact how the game is balanced.Tekken 7’sLeroy Smith is the perfect example of how competitive events influence balance. At EVO Japan in 2020, the character was played by 6 of the top 8 competitors, leading the character to be nerfed. WhileMK1’s first balance patch was made leading up to ECT, the tournament was dominated by players using Cyrax as their Kameo fighter. Controversially,Cyrax was nerfedin the proceeding update. High-level competitive play is often the best indicator of a fighting game’s balance.
Mortal Kombat 1’s balance could be subject to more updates than other competitive fighting games. For one,Mortal Kombatgames are released more often and have shorter lifespans than other major franchises in the genre.MK1’s Kameo systemis also something new for the series. Assist characters from the Kameo system change how balancing works. Nerfing a support character impacts not only that Kameo character but each primary fighter as well. NetherRealm may need to work more balance changes in than previous games and at unusual intervals to account for their own learning to adjust this new system.
