Mortal Kombat X keeps getting better and better everytime NetherRealm Studios decides to show it off. To cap off last week Ed Boon and Co. cushioned a last-gen delay with the reveal of Jason Voorhees as a guest fighter. Problem is, it might not be the only bad news for the soon to launch title.
Over the weekend a curious fan asked Mortal Kombat X executive producer, Shaun Himmerick, about possible region-locking for the multiplayer component of the title. Himmerick, seemingly answering what he thought was a straight forward question, causally confirmed that the upcoming fighter would lock online players out of regions their copy of the game didn’t belong to. Suffice to say, he quickly deleted the comment shortly after.
@bcharred @resh_aykut region locks will be the same as injustice and MK9 were.
— lover of tacos (@lover_of_tacos) March 13, 2015
That’s not before thousands of keen-eyed fans saw it though. The question now is whether Himmerick simply made an error, or revealed information before he was really supposed to. A region-locked multiplayer experience wouldn’t be new to fighters developed by NetherRealm Studios. Both Mortal Kombat 9 and Injustice featured the restrictive feature (on the PS3 versions at least), so this could just be par for the course for Mortal Kombat X.
The real question is why NetherRealm would want to implement this, rather than give players the choice. It’s very difficult to get a smooth experience with fast titles such as Mortal Kombat on overseas servers. But if you’re looking for an average online experience because there aren’t enough players online locally, you can at the very least still do that. With region-locking, that’s not possible.
It also plays some importance on where you purchase the game, since you’ll be effectively locking yourself into a region. This whole move would be okay if it only pertained to ranked matchmaking – but allowed players to play casual games with whomsoever they liked. Nobody wants to play ranked games with people who’re lagging everywhere, especially in fighting games where frame-data is important in the highest level of play.
NetherRealm has yet to issue an official statement regarding this, so let’s keep it on the rumor shelf for now. But considering past implementations, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mortal Kombat X goes this route.
Last Updated: March 16, 2015
Ranting Raptor
March 16, 2015 at 07:41
I think region locking is a terrible idea and a lame excuse for lazy multiplayer implementation.
Seriously. Would it be too much to ask that the game differentiate connections based on location and ping and to simply just decline if it’s a ranked match or allow if it’s casual?
What about form the lobby? Why not just show ranked matches region only stuff? Or something. But to completely region lock? Really silly.
Blood Emperor Trevor
March 16, 2015 at 07:42
“GET OVER HERE!”
“Stop being a dick Scorpion, you know I can’t.”
Ranting Raptor
March 16, 2015 at 07:43
I’m laughing at this even though I know I shouldn’t
RinceThis
March 16, 2015 at 08:15
Shame man. Umar won’t be able to pull off his ol ‘excuse me, I say, excuse me. Could you find it in you heart to make your way over here’…
Hammersteyn
March 16, 2015 at 07:54
lover of tacos made a brutal mistype last time buy saying we wont need PS+ for the MP, is he very sure of himself this time? Maybe if he loved a better type of mexican food like fajitas he wold make less mistakes?
fred
March 16, 2015 at 08:12
Well due to latency it would be better off playing only with those close to you.
Geoffrey Tim
March 16, 2015 at 08:34
As somebody who plays FG games, I can’t be upset about this. Playing fighting games with 200ms pings or higher makes them downright unplayable. If there’s an option to play with mates in unranked, casual play, then I don’t see an issue.