Apparent Mortal Kombat 12 leak posted by NetherRealm Production Manager very well may have been intentional
Especially when it comes to iconic franchises like Mortal Kombat, keeping big news a secret in modern times has proved to be an especially challenging task for developers, and it looks as though NetherRealm Studios may have just let a Mortal Kombat 12 snippet slip on social media.
Senior Production Manager Jonathan Andersen posted a photo of his desk with a few pieces of older NRS artwork on it, but with his computer monitor also in partial view, and on it is what appears to be a direct reference to Mortal Kombat 12. As potentially exciting as this is, the whole thing does come across as a bit fishy and has us wondering if this wasn't an intentional slip up to get people talking.
One of Andersen's monitors includes a file name that reads 'MK12_Mast.' On the other we see parts of a confidentiality notice about a video that is clearly supposed to be kept away from public eyes at this point in time. Of what we can see from the note, it reads "do not share any part of this video," and "our fans eagerly scrape the internet for any trace..."
Said post was rapidly taken down a few minutes after being posted, but eager fans scraping the internet for traces of potentially juicy NRS news snapped photos. Click the thumbnail below to see the larger version of the photo in question from Andersen's now-deleted post:
Click images for larger versions
Like other major developers around them, NetherRealm Studios has been fighting the fight to keep major information under wraps until they're ready to share, and have often lost that fight thanks to data miners.
That said, the company is obviously hyper aware of leak potential in 2022 (look no further than the notice in the photo) and the thought of a Senior Production Manager making such a cavalier error does come across as a hard pill to swallow.
What's more, the company's Chief Creative Officer and Mortal Kombat co-creator, Ed Boon, is known for teasing fans on social media. We've yet to see Boon go for something as bold as this seemingly is, but if any major development company were going to try for something like this, NRS would be many community members' first pick to do so.
There's also an image of Wonder Woman concept art, a character who has been in both of NRS' Injustice titles, in the photo. NetherRealm has followed a pattern of alternating Mortal Kombat and Injustice releases over the last decade, and we'd need a third Injustice before an MK12 to keep that pattern going.
Perhaps this photo post is something of a misdirection to get fans buzzing about a potential new Mortal Kombat so that an Injustice reveal lands with a bit more surprise, but it's difficult to be confident about any of NRS' current intentions at this point.
What does this most look like to you? A legitimate slip up, a poorly covered fake hint at MK12, a more clever hint at a new Injustice game, or something else entirely? Let us know in the comments below.
