Why Mortal Kombat?

Nov 19 2020 3 min read

As WePlay Esports recently announced WePlay Dragon Temple, the question was asked: why Mortal Kombat?

There are so many iconic fighting game titles out there, yet none are quite as notorious as Mortal Kombat. In the early 90s, most new fighting games felt like Street Fighter imitations, but MK was something new... The series is infamous for its gory over-the-top graphics, full of blood, guts, and various dismembered body parts. The excessive violence, while meant to be comical, made Mortal Kombat stand out; the universe was dark and dirty, whereas Street Fighter was very bright and positive.

Gory Glory

As the original Mortal Kombat hit arcades in 1992, players of all ages would lineup to try out the new game, even though parents were horrified by the graphic content. Eventually, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which now assigns age and content ratings to video games, was born due to the outcry caused by MK. Despite all the controversy, Mortal Kombat remains one of the most successful game franchises of all time. With movies, TV series, and comics, MK narrowed the gap between video games and other media forms. It was, albeit perhaps unintentionally, at the forefront of normalizing gaming in general pop culture, years before competitive gaming and esports.

The FGC's Finest

While MK is still synonymous with "extravagantly gory graphics" today, the series is widely considered as one of the best in the fighting games genre. The series has innovated time and time again, introducing new mechanics and maintaining to stay relevant all these years later. Even the latest installment of the franchise, Mortal Kombat 11, has presented its players with countless hours of content paired with state of the art graphics. To top it all of, the franchise houses a very successful and exciting competitive community with some of the FGC's best players.

"Choosing a title for WePlay's first-ever fighting game event wasn't easy, we discussed internally around the options we had, looking at many of the other well-known titles. Our decision for Mortal Kombat came from the understanding of what would be beneficial for the FGC community and what would be a fantastic challenge for our team.

Our goal is to provide one of the best FGC events that has ever been seen, not only from the competition itself but using our innovative production that WePlay is known for, to create an immersive and amazing experience for everyone involved - from here, the Dragon Temple was born!

We believe the community will appreciate an incredible and positive end to 2020 in Mortal Kombat, especially in these trying times, using all of our resources to deliver the best event we can. With this style of event, we hope to open the eyes and minds of everyone watching, as they watch the fierce battle commence on the Dragon Temple!"

- James "BanKs" Banks, Project Consultant

All of the reasons mentioned here played a role in WePlay's decision to enter the FGC with Mortal Kombat 11. We hope you are as excited about WePlay Dragon Temple as we are!