The future regarding the NetherRealm studio owners isn’t entirely sure yet, so Ed Boon and his team could have taken another direction than what they wanted.

According to VentureBeat’s Jeff Grubb, NetherRealm Studios has given priority for Mortal Kombat 12 instead of working on Injustice 3, due to WB Games not having 100% certainty around it at the moment. Grubb believes it’s safer for Boon’s team to work on the next Mortal Kombat, as Injustice requires a lot of licensing from DC Comics, and if Warner offloads the studio to someone else, working on this series could be near impossible. And since Mortal Kombat is from Boon’s team, they can play safe by focusing on it.

“It lines up with the reality, and it lines up with what I’ve heard, where Mortal Kombat 12 would make the most sense because that’s a game they know will make money, it will sell well. Mortal Kombat 11 was great, it’s doing well, but if you come out with Mortal Kombat 12, it will also sell and do well. At the same time, you don’t have to use any of these Batman or Superman characters that might be tied up in licensing if you try to get rid of NetherRealm or sell it to whoever,” Grubb said

In July, WB Games denied reports about selling NetherRealm to someone else. They provided a statement after Windows Central’s Jez Corden claimed he saw documents that mentioned selling NetherRealm Studios and TT Games (known for LEGO games) due to the Warner-Discovery merger. “I can confirm NetherRealm Studios and TT Games will continue to remain a part of Warner Bros. Games, and all are included in the Warner Media Discovery merger,” a WB spokesperson said.

Injustice will only continue if NetherRealm continues under WB Games after the Discovery merger is over: by then, there would be no legalities surrounding the DC licensing.

Source: PSL