To start, I realize that this is generally a blog about movies. I’m also a gamer. I enjoy video games, so I periodically talk about them. Today, I find myself to be well….pissed off. Why? Let’s start at the beginning: I’m a Mortal Kombat fan. I’ve been a huge fan of the game franchise since the debut of the original title back in 1992. That’s 24 years of Mortal Kombat. I’ve played every single title in the series including the bad ones like Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. God, that was awful. I witnessed the game transition from the 2D plane with digitized actors to a fully 3d environment, starting with Mortal Kombat 4. It’s not the best of the series, but it was still gloriously bloody. Things got better with Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon. But after that, the company that produced the game, Midway Studios, closed down. So, the remaining staff formed a company called NetherRealm Studios, and they began work on a 9th MK title. The game’s release back in 2011 was heralded as a return to the gory ways of Mortal Kombat after the disappointing Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe cross-over. Mortal Kombat 9 was a bit of a reboot of sorts, but it was absolutely fantastic. The controls were tight, the combos were easy and brutal, and the introduction of a brutal new move, called the X-Ray was added to the mix to create a brutal new experience. That was the last Mortal Kombat to be released for the PS3 and XBOX 360. The follow-up, Mortal Kombat X would be the first next-gen Mortal Kombat title to be released for the new PS4 and Xbox One. It was also released on the PC, and this is where things went horribly wrong for PC users like me.
I had pre-ordered the game, because I’m a huge fan of the series, and I wanted to be able to play as Goro, one of the classic characters of the franchise. I had absolutely NO reason to expect that the PC version of Mortal Kombat X would be horribly broken. I start the game, and the performance is horrible and most of the main features of the game are were missing: No story mode, no towers, none of that. All it had was a practice mode and a single fight option against the AI. If it was a demo of the game, I would understand that, but this was a fully priced game at 60 bucks, and it was fucking broken. I get it, sometimes launches don’t go according to plan, it happens. But this was incredibly embarrassing for a triple-A game. The game got fixed in about 12 or so hours. I was able to review the game after putting in a number of hours. Fun as hell, and the gameplay was solid, just as a Mortal Kombat game should be. BUT: The initial PC launch of the game had already done its damage. WB Games/NRS(NetherRealm Studios) were in a rush to get the game into a far more playable state, which unfortunately ended up with a huge number of people losing all their progress. I had found out that WB had outsourced the PC port to a substandard outfit called High Voltage Studios. Had the port been done in-house, I believe it would have been a much stronger release. The worst part is that WB KNEW the game had problems, and had shoved it out the fucking door anyway.
So, a couple of months later, I download a couple of DLC characters(DLC=downloadable content)including the Predator(fuck, yeah), Jason Voorhees(also fuck, yeah), and a couple of others. Now that the game has been patched and is running very well now, we finally get an announce for a new “Kombat Pack 2” which includes the infamous Xenomorph from the Alien films, Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Tri-borg(three robot characters from previous games all rolled into one), and Bo Rai Cho(an ancient drunken teacher of sorts). I’m absolutely THRILLED. Until I found out that the new DLC pack is for the PS4 and Xbox One only. So….why them and not the PC? WB/NRS hasn’t said anything as of yet, and that’s pissing off a lot of people. I’m one of them. The game is working fine now, but it appears that WB/NRS are dropping support for the PC version regardless. Why? I’m sure it has absolutely nothing to do, whatsoever, with the fact that people were complaining about the disastrous release of the PC version. You know, when people are willing to drop 60 bones on a highly anticipated video game only to have it not work when they downloaded it, they have a right to be fucking pissed. They are just as pissed when they found out they were getting the shaft when it comes to the new DLC pack and XL edition, which includes ALL the prior DLC. I would say that’s a pretty big “fuck you” to the PC crowd. This isn’t the first time WB Games has given the PC base the finger. Batman: Arkham Origins was a wreck when it was released, but they refused to patch the game, saying the needed to focus on the DLC. Batman: Arkham Knight, the latest in the Batman Arkham series, was just as broken on PC. So much so, that because of Steam’s(it’s a software platform for buying and downloading PC games)new refund policy, they pulled the game from the store for months while they tried to fix it. It was released again, and it was still a terrible port.
Until WB Games and NetherRealm Studios begin to start respecting their PC customers, I refuse to give any more money towards these companies because of their shady business practices. That means my 24 year ride with Mortal Kombat has come to an end, and it breaks my heart. It really does. But I cannot support companies that treat their customers like shit, and I would strongly advise other people to do the same. So, I’m officially boycotting WB Games and NetherRealm Studios, until they stop fucking their customers in the ass.