Mortal Kombat Developer NetherRealm Studios Affected By Layoffs
2024 has been a historically brutal year for videogame developers, and it doesn’t appear to be getting better. NetherRealm Studios, the team behind Mortal Kombat, has suffered a round of layoffs. The news came via a LinkedIn post from Tony Lazzara, a former quality assurance analyst at the company: “Unfortunately, yesterday Netherrealm’s mobile team was shut down. A ton of very talented people were put out of work. We had live services on multiple titles such as Mortal Kombat Mobile, Injustice 2, and Mortal Kombat Onslaught. I was also affected.”
Others, including animator Elizabeth Ramirez, reported the same on LinkedIn. Shortly after, NetherRealm confirmed that Mortal Kombat Onslaught, an action RPG released late last year for mobile, will be shutting down in October.
We are sorry to inform you that Mortal Kombat: Onslaught will close its operations in October. It has been an honor creating this game for our Kommunity, and we appreciate the enthusiasm from our fans. In the coming weeks we will share specific timing of the close of the game.
— Mortal Kombat: Onslaught (@mkonslaught) July 18, 2024
Warner Bros. said in a statement to IGN that the studio’s other two mobile games, Mortal Kombat Mobile and Injustice 2 Mobile, will remain online: “NetherRealm Studios would like to assure all players and fans of our ongoing commitment to Mortal Kombat Mobile and Injustice 2 mobile. Both games will continue to have full support. Additionally, we have made the difficult decision to sunset Mortal Kombat: Onslaught in the coming months. We are deeply grateful to all the players who have joined us in Mortal Kombat: Onslaught’s journey.”
While it isn’t known for certain how many people were affected, Insider Gaming reported that at least 50 were let go. According to LinkedIn, the studio has (or had) between 51 and 200 employees in total. NetherRealm Studios released Mortal Kombat 1 last year, and while it received a mixed response from many in the competitive fighting game scene, as reflected in its low entrant numbers at the tournament EVO, the game has sold well, clearing 3 million units as of January.
The news comes in the context of a game industry that has surpassed 10,000 layoffs in 2024, already clearing 2023’s similarly disastrous total. Every other week, it seems there is news of another studio being shut down or scaled back, a symptom of a game industry struggling to find funding and, in the case of some mega-corporations like Microsoft worth 3 trillion dollars, unwilling to tolerate slightly less exorbitant profits while interest rates remain high and investment is harder to come by. The current financial climate has led to a saying in Hollywood, TV production, and the game industry, “Survive ‘til 25.” Whether economic headwinds will shift by then remains to be seen.