We also learned a few things about the Nintendo Switch port.

NetherRealm seems to swap between hot and cold water in the shower – they first say that there’s no beta for the PC and Switch players, now they say something positive. WCCFTech asked Derek Kirtzic, NetherRealm‘s game designer, about cross-play. He said he couldn’t say details, but they are considering to implement it at a later date.

While that reply seems somewhat dodgy, there is a good reason, though – Mortal Kombat 11 will use Unreal Engine 4 instead of Unreal Engine 3, used by previous NetherRealm games (Mortal Kombat (9), Mortal Kombat X, Injustice, Injustice 2…). WCCFTech previously wrote about how during 2019, all seven affected platforms (PC, Mac, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch) will get cross-platform functions from logging in to voice chat, matchmaking, trophies/achievements, and data storage/cloud saves. The developers are probably waiting for these updates to make cross-play possible between PlayStation 4/Xbox One/PC/Nintendo Switch. The cross-play‘s party/matchmaking update for the Unreal Engine 4 is coming in the second half of 2019.

The Nintendo Switch port isn’t being developed in-house at NetherRealm. Trevor Traub, the game’s producer, told GameRevolution the following: „There are special geometry reductions that happen to make it work on the Switch. The end product is actually really fantastic. We’re actually not developing it in-house; it’s being developed by Shiver Studios. They’re developing it at the same time as us so it’s sort of a co-development. There is no lead SKU. I can’t wait because I play on Xbox but I will have the Switch version too for practice.” The geometry reduction means that the characters could be slightly smaller, have less background geometry (graphics), or even the characters themselves would have fewer parts (in other words, their „skeletons” would be simplified). We haven’t heard much about Shiver Studios – they previously worked on the Scribblenauts series.

Mortal Kombat 11 is out on April 23 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Source: WCCFTech, WCCFTech, WCCFTech