When it comes to competitive gaming, “Mortal Kombat” is one of the first names that pops in many people’s heads, and for a good reason. It’s one of the titles that laid the very foundations of the idea of playing games competitively, and the multiple installments in the series throughout the years have all shared a common trend towards making the game more skill-based. And while the developers have been acknowledging this fact in offhand remarks here and there, it wasn’t until recently that they revealed that they actually have a very strong focus on the competitive scene when developing “Mortal Kombat X”. In fact, with some of the previous titles in the series, the stance of MidWay has been that they’re trying to make the games more accessible for casual players.
According to an interview with Ed Boon, the development of “Mortal Kombat X” has been particularly strongly influenced by recent developments in the e-sports community, and the game is aiming to be the ultimate refined competitive experience. He acknowledged that some of the previous entries in the series have been very weak in this regard, and the company has made the mistake of trying to reach an audience that’s simply too broad.
Now, for the development of their next game, the studio have taken a step back and are analyzing the critical factors for a good competitive title, trying to implement as many of those as they can into the next “Mortal Kombat”. One of the main defining features of any good competitive video game is that it should be based on skill as much as possible, and so “Mortal Kombat X” will likely include far fewer elements of randomness in the gameplay, leaving as little as possible to chance.
The game will introduce the concept of “character variations”, which, according to the developers, is an idea meant to add an extra layer of complexity to its gameplay, and make it even deeper and more strategic. How this will play out remains to be seen, although fans have been very excited about this particular aspect of the game.
It’s also been revealed that the development team has been in direct touch with various prominent members of the competitive scene, going as far as to fly them in so they can get their input on the progress of their work. This isn’t the first time a game developer has decided to incorporate feedback from the competitive community so tightly into the development of their game, and it usually leads to some pretty impressive results if done right, so fans have been having high hopes for the future of “Mortal Kombat” and its competitive scene.