MK dev wanted Xbox exclusive character

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 19 April, 2011

But, "We did not have control over it."

The PlayStation 3 version of fighting game Mortal Kombat – out this week – includes God of War star Kratos as an exclusive playable character. Xbox 360 owners, however, do not get an exclusive character. Why?

The answer is shrouded in mystery.

"Unfortunately, the circumstances didn't allow us to make a 360 exclusive," was all Mortal Kombat boss Ed Boon could say when quizzed by Eurogamer.

"I'm not allowed to talk too much about it, but I can tell you we certainly wanted to do an exclusive for 360, but that's all I can say. It was not a decision we made where we said, oh, let's not do one for the 360."

Xbox 360 owners were given hope that they would see an exclusive playable character in the gory brawler when Twitter accounts associated with Gears of War maker Epic Games offered to chat to Mortal Kombat developer NetherRealm.

"It's funny," Boon continued. "A number of us on the development team have accounts on Twitter. We try to use that as a means to communicate and connect with the players. Our team in particular pays big attention to fans of the game and what they want to see in Mortal Kombat game. So we pay very close attention."

While Boon refused to specify the characters he wanted to include exclusively for the Xbox 360 version, he hinted that NetherRealm discussed the likes of Master Chief and Marcus Fenix.

"Anybody who's really knowledgeable about the Xbox video games, the big titles, names like Master Chief from Halo, Marcus Fenix from Gears of War, and any other Xbox exclusive title, is going to come up in a conversation in talking about it. So clearly we've discussed it.

"But, like I said, it wasn't something we decided, no, we don't want to make a 360 version of a character."

Eurogamer's Mortal Kombat review goes live this week.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • customfirmware #1 1 year ago

    In other word we received money from Sony not to do it.

  • uzivatel #2 1 year ago

    @customfirmware: more like they did not receive money from Microsoft to do it?

  • funkateer #3 1 year ago

    Or they couldn't get the rights for Master Chief or Marcus?

  • el_pollo_diablo #4 1 year ago

    Or they couldn't be arsed rendering Blinx the Time Sweeper in 3D StudioMax

  • Slikz #5 1 year ago

    I still think they should have used general raam!

  • Gnort #6 1 year ago

    This doesn't bother me at all. I'm actually quite pleased, I prefer my fighting games to be thematically consistent, I don't want Marcus Fenix (or even Kratos) in my Mortal Kombat game, he doesn't belong there.

    I would have paid money for DLC to get the bloody Star Wars characters out of Soul Calibur IV.

  • Phantom_Dynamite #7 1 year ago

    They could have just stuck an extra MK character in there.

  • altitude2k #8 1 year ago

    Skorge would have been a great choice.

  • Vordred #9 1 year ago

    i would say it was more down to thier publisher, Warner Bros.

    they are in with sony, and they have a nasty habit of placing Review Embargo's, and in this case it seem a review and 360 demo embargo. which is lifted today btw.

    they did the same sort of thing with Batman : AA, ps3 got the joker, and they put a review embargo in place (unless the game was given a 9 and then the review could go up early)
    Edited by Vordred at 19/04/11 @ 10:06

  • Gearskin #10 1 year ago

    Blinx the Cat!

    His fatality could have involved his vacuum cleaner sucking off his opponents skin!

  • kingcrowbar #11 1 year ago

    Maybe it was Milo.

  • Pasco #12 1 year ago

    I find it perplexing that people still care about Mortal Kombat 15 years after the novelty factor has worn off. It was and is a series with bad gameplay, horrific animations and amateurish character design.

  • DDevil #13 1 year ago

    Alan Wake shining his torch at the other fighters :D

  • 1-up #14 1 year ago

    Kirby eating people... oh.

  • el_pollo_diablo #15 1 year ago

    @Pasco

    Get over here (and say that).

  • Architect_z #16 1 year ago

    Thats because theres no decent Xbox characters apart from the guys from Halo and Gears, and their not exactly martial artists are they?

    Besides, your screwed if you buy the Xbox version, not only do you have to pay microsoft, but now you have to pay the MK developers just to play online.

    Come on n00bs I want as many negs as I can get.
    Edited by Architect_z at 19/04/11 @ 13:19

  • Markusdragon #17 1 year ago

    Reaver from Fable 2 & 3 would have been a nice fit. His finisher would involve stealing opponents' youth, then shooting them in the face. And the awesome power of being voiced by Stephen Fry.

    Failing that, a Pinata. Some of those colourful candy-filled creatures are mean sonofabitches.

  • LazyNinjaUk #18 1 year ago

    While I'd love to have a 360 exclusive character, I can't really think of one other than someone from Gears. Other than that pickings are slim, Alan Wake, Master Chief and Franklin Fizzlybear don't really seem to fit Mortal Kombat.

  • WinterSnowblind #19 1 year ago

    So why couldn't this have been said before the release of the game, instead of teasing about possibilities and making coy remarks on twitter? I never expected the Xbox to get anything but it's pretty disgraceful how the developers/publishers have purposefully been misleading right up until the release.

  • frunk #20 1 year ago

    I can also see why...

    Kratos is a shoe in for MK, 360 does not have such a visceral melee brawler in its IP arsenal - most of them use guns primarily.

    The suggestionsby folks here as secondary characters in games (Skorge not MC, Reaver, etc)

    So Sony was probably willing to let Kratos be used (with some cash I am sure) as it is a primary iconic character that is thematically "right" for that type of game.

    Whereas MS would be shoehorning a lesser known character into a role they are not suitable for thereby "diluting the brand"... the type of marketting bollox talk we all know well.

  • SeesThroughAll #21 1 year ago

    Unfortunately, the circumstances didn't allow us to make a 360 exclusive

    Translation: Microsoft thought we were asking too much money for it.

  • RobotRocker #22 1 year ago

    they did the same sort of thing with Batman : AA, ps3 got the joker, and they put a review embargo in place (unless the game was given a 9 and then the review could go up early)

    That was Eidos/Square-Enix. Not WB games. The embargo was up because technically, they hadn't revealed three of the characters yet (Smoke, Quan Chi and Cyber Sub Zero) and didn't want to give the secrets away. Even some very good reviews from Giant Bomb and 1up (Written by Haunts of iPlayWinner at that) still had an Embargo.

    As for Kratos as the guest character. A lot of ex-Midway staff work at Sony Santa Monica on God Of War and many of the GoW team made Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. More than likely it was both teams doing something fun alongside Sony wanting a killer app so to speak. They didn't rule out doing an exclusive character in the future for the 360 though.

  • muscleblade #23 1 year ago

    The game is still brilliant on the 360. Kudos to Netherealm studios for making the best story mode in a fighting game ever. The amount of content is incredible for this type of game. This is a must buy for all fighting game fans. The best Mortal Kombat game ever made by a mile.

  • muscleblade #24 1 year ago

    The game is still brilliant on the 360. Kudos to Netherealm studios for making the best story mode in a fighting game ever. The amount of content is incredible for this type of game. This is a must buy for all fighting game fans. The best Mortal Kombat game ever made by a mile.

  • muscleblade #25 1 year ago

    The game is still brilliant on the 360. Kudos to Netherealm studios for making the best story mode in a fighting game ever. The amount of content is incredible for this type of game. This is a must buy for all fighting game fans. The best Mortal Kombat game ever made by a mile.

  • Machetazo #26 1 year ago

    Microsoft still has characters? Great to know! There's already been a Spartan in DOA4, and that was ok for that franchise. The horror of space-marine #1 (complete with helmet, and detachable AI companion accessory), and plastic space-marine #2 inflicting their presence on MK! D:
    Edited by Machetazo at 19/04/11 @ 12:09

  • MJHaylett #27 1 year ago

    maybe there wasn't any room on the disc for the 360 version :D (joke troll post so don't get pissy)

  • mashk #28 1 year ago

    Where's the fucking 360 demo?

  • wattsn26 #29 1 year ago

    They can get an exclusive character when PS3 owners get Case: Zero and Case: West for Dead Rising 2

  • man.the.king #30 1 year ago

    I think a possible reason why there is no exclusive character for the 360 version is that, at present, there are no good hack-and-slash or martial arts (or well, martial arts as portrayed in video-games) characters in the 360 stable of exclusives.

    Once the 360 has a good hack-and-slash or fighting exclusive game (with a memorable character), I'm guessing the next MK will probably incorporate that character as exclusive for the 360.

  • Andy247 #31 1 year ago

    Sony have gone on record saying that they're no pursuing platform exclusives, they're pursuing exclusive DLC for multi-platform games. Seems like they've opened the chequebook to ensure that MS didn't have the same option in this instance.

  • Pasco #32 1 year ago

    @el_pollo_diablo

    How appropriate! You fight like a cow.