The seasonal fatalities should have been a community event, like 100k fatalities reached people get it for free or something among those lines

Yeah this needs to be made very loud and clear to them that these seasonal fatalities better be free at the very damn least

For people popping into this debacle, keep in mind that this game is $70 USD. They want you to pay over a seventh of the game's price for one fatality when the game itself came with two for each main character and one for each Kameo. And if this is meant to support the development of the game, then what happened to the 10 extra dollars they tacked onto the base price? What about the DLC pipeline that's already all paid content with entire characters and skin packs that they are CONFIRMED to be working on and thus have a budget for already? What's so special about ONE fatality that it's worth 12 dollars, especially since it's not an explicitly licensed Halloween 3 item that it's clearly trying to be given how the fatality plays out.

This fatality is a perfect example of when something should be free. Its the season give it to your crowd for free.

“How’d you do that fatality man? Never seen it before” “Yeah, I bought it”

Paying $10 or even $5 for a skin is utterly stupid. Now they want 12$ for a fatality LOL

My respect for Max is reflected in this video. He's not just bashing it, he's unravelling it, while calling it for what it is.

YEA This is getting out of control😂

once i knew you'd have to pay for it, i thought it would be MAYBE 300 krystals, which i already thought was still ridiculous - but to see 1200?!?!? $12 for a fatality? after paying $70-110 already? nah this is straight up disgusting

Games in general are getting a little too comfortable with Microtransactions, but fighting games especially have been getting bad about this lately.

It seems WB missed the point of microtransactions. They're supposed to be small amounts you pay to have the illusion that you're not spending so much. When you open a store front and see $12 for a fatality, $10 for a skin, and $5 for alternate colors, those will most definitely give players pause and ask "Is this really worth it?"

People should have seriously started questioning everything when 3 relevant characters to the storymode, Ermac and the literal two final bosses where sold apart LOL

Glad Max exists and is still real af to this day.

I feel like the gist of MK1's reception was "It's a good foundation, and will be a great game if WB and NRS don't go back to their usual bullshit" and then they immediately went back to their usual bullshit

This is why I'm starting to wait for complete editions. There's always 2-3 character packs and extra dlc not included in them, making you pay more.

Max also forgot to mention he did purchase the $20 unlock everything in the Krypt short cut in MKX, which started this trend.

Absolutely absurd prices. Not even the costumes should cost anywhere over 2 dollars at the absolute max.

$12 for a fatality is insane.

And lets not forget that they are planning on making other seasonal fatalities too. So at this current price, if you buy 2 fatalities, thats $24, nearly a third of the price of the base game, thats insane.

Thanks Max for shining a light on these predatory prices.

What bugs me even more then the price of Microtransactions is when stuff is on rotation or only buy/unlockable for a limited time. That's even more gross and exploitative then stuff being expensive because you can just straight up not even have the ability to buy or unlock a piece of content just because you happened to be busy or sick when it was available. If it's not available, then it may as well cost an infinite amount of $$$, because you're not going to be able to buy it all the same.

$100+ for a week early was already a red flag

the fact that its common rarity just tells you of the things that are to come

I remember the ermac skin in 10, and since it was going towards tournaments it wasn’t too bad. It’s like the cpt costumes for sf5. But ten dollars for a costume for a single character feels like a freemium move. For a full priced game. Hell seeing all the whacky costumes in the story mode and just wondering why they weren’t in the game, I feel like they could have added so much more but are holding back to charade for it later. Sad state

Very happy to see this topic is picking up traction. I understand why the people who paid 110 dollars for the premium edition feel cheated.

They want us to pay $70 and then pay $10 each time we want any small thing... they've gone crazy

Thanks for using your voice with us, Max!

Thanks for the info, Max. Honestly, stuff like this makes me want to wait further and further to pick this up. If they are willing to dip their toes into a la carte fatalities now, what is next?

Good on you for speaking out on this. This wouldn't even feel that bad if the game was just complete, but there's so much missing. Amazing gameplay, but this type of stuff is just sad.

I think what gets me the most about this whole thing is that it's clear that those who made this fatality put a lot of love and care into it. It's a really cool looking fatality and is probably one of my favorites already (Nightmare before Christmas vibes is something I love a lot with the bugs coming out.) and for it to be locked behind real currency is genuinely frustrating.

When your favorite franchise becomes popular, it's basically a kiss of death for it. Changes will come, and a few innerations later. You'll barely recognize it, and wonder where all the day one content went. Until you realize you bought half a game, and they're ready to sell you the other half... 😔

This is the first MK game I passed on. I had a feeling they would do this.

There is almost no escaping the monetization greed anymore. It is why BG3 was such a breath of fresh air. Not only was it an incredible game, it didn’t try to nickel and dime you constantly.

Love how you addressed this and showed how little money the pros made during the major

I think one of the main reasons many of WB's games as of late, not just Mortal Kombat, has had such egregious microtransactions as of late is most likely because WB as a whole has been in hot water over the past few years in terms of finances, being in BILLIONS of dollars in debt due to the insanely stupid actions of higher-ups, such as David Zaslav. Like, I'm pretty sure the only reason Zaslav hasn't sold off or written off WB Games like almost everything else over the past couple years is because WB Games is one of the few parts of the company that still makes a decent profit. And that profit is definitely coming from those microtransactions. The only way Mortal Kombat and other WB games can get rid of this horrid monetization is if WB themselves can get out of the red, and I honestly don't see that happening with Zaslav and his executives at the helm. SOMEBODY needs to kick them out.

The correct response is to boycott, get full refund, that sort of thing. Developers will charge for everything people will pay for, and they determine what doesn't market well based on its sales performance. You want positive change? Hurt their bottom line or they will keep ignoring you and ripping you off.

Thanks for covering this Max. I hope more people cover it soon. The best thing we can do is not buy anything from the store. Money talks.

Yeah I’m scared of how much Street Fighter 6 costume 3 will cost for each character. I’m afraid they will be $15-$25 each. The turtles costumes left a really bad taste in my mouth.

Absolutely love how you used the words "trickle down." Thank you.

I remember buying that sub zero skin in mkx and I remember the feeling of being satisfied with my purchase because I was supporting the tournament players as well. It was just very satisfying to support the community that way instead of just giving MORE of my money to corporate overlords lol

it makes me worried that we won't get big updates like MK11's Aftermath that adds friendships and a bunch of other stuff. If this is how much a season finisher costs, then how much will a friendship cost? Or how much will a klassic skin cost? Or my greatest fear is how much will Ermac's MK11 costume cost?

• Released in a largely playable, but buggy state • Shows signs of heavy monetization for skins and fatalities They add anything more to this list and we MIGHT have a problem.

I always compare these dlcs to smash dlcs, because i feel like 6 dollars for a new character, a stage, and more songs its great, or like some story games that has dlc like the separate ways dlc that costs 10 dollars and give us more than just a fatality or a skin (i know, not the same genre as MK1 but)

I was there when Mortal Kombat first came out, and now, I'm so glad I moved on from that franchise. And guys, have some self-respect and stop defending Ed in this case. He knows very well what he is doing and knows he can count on the 'fans' to defend him, he is an accomplice not a victim.

Every time a community complains about the microtransactions the devs wont do anything and thats crossing the line at this point

A good point that Max hits is that paying for skins isn't the issue. it's the (lack of) quality you get for the price. Right now, because of a Steam sale, you can get the Ultimate edition of Mk11 for less than what the MK1 Halloween fatality costs. That's every DLC character...for eight bucks. You could pick up all the skin DLCs for less than what the Scorpion DA skin costs. And what's more, is that Steam sale is specifically a WB games sale.

The microtransactions and dlc add ons are what has really kept me out of fighting games you pay in Canada 90 dollars for the base game then you have to keep up with editions that come out each year. I just can’t do it

This was a great video breaking down everything. My issue with WB started when they had that store in Shadow of War, got rid of it, and then patented the Nemesis system. WB like damn near every other pub is greedy

I know it’s comparing apples to oranges but it amazes me back in 2015 CD Project Red released a 20+ hour dlc for $20 whereas now costumes in fighting games cost nearly $15 dollars when they should cost no more than $5 max

We really needed Max to signal boost this message. Thank you

I know it’s a business and they’re following trends most companies are doing. One “solution” I found that can balance both ends is like a battlepass that is free for all players. Make it 30 tiers that have it tied to XP or time played. Put these cosmetics in the pass and have the fatality or the big unlock at the end and give an option if people was fast access to purchase the tiers or make it like $10 and you get everything in the pass instantly.

Watch them include everything in a $70 Komplete edition next year. Ed has to be aware that people actually supporting their products think this is really getting old, but not sure how much pull he has with someone like Zaslav in charge. Kinda surprised he didn’t just purge the franchise from their lineup.

Great to see Max talk about this. I know he almost never discusses the scummy side of the modern video gaming lanscape but him being such a prominent member of the FGC & also a prominent KZfaqr, its great to see him speaking out against this really lame moronic display by WB Games & NetherRealm.

It sucks because at its core MK1 is a great game. Engaging kombat, and a fun story. Invasions was a dud, and it's becoming painfully clear this game was probably rushed out before it was ready because WB missed out on the suicide squad game making them money, and they knew MK could be the cash cow

5:42-5:56 YES!! Thank you! Someone finally said it! What a lot of people who don't know how the industry works always like to do is to blame the developing studio for things like this, when most of the time (aside from Indie Developers), it's a developing studio's production company (How Warner Bros is to NetherRealm Studios) that decides all of that stuff. I forgot who said it in an interview, but I heard a game developer said that if given the time and money, they can make games that people want, it's just the producers either give them one or the other, or even neither, most of the time.

Well-thought-out, not a rant, good job, you had me listening to the end.

I'm starting to believe the rumors of WBD selling themselves to universal or whoever in four years more and more. The new guy that's running it,has been doing everything to save WBD money and also to make the company look good in every corner possible,hence why they are doing this with this game. They are essentially trying to take their biggest fighting game IP into a live service direction

There are currently more players on MK11 than MK1 on a Sunday afternoon, this is sad..

I WATCHED THIS STREAM. and it also Helped me get a good night sleep afterwards that I needed badly LOL

I think the worst part about this is that once this news came out people immediately started pinning the blame on the developers because they knew good and well that if they went and yelled at Warner Brothers they’d just be ignored. Mortal Kombat Twitter is always looking for a reason to attack the developers for something they don’t like, and now WB has given them one

Remember folks, this is why Piracy exists

Hard to believe every NRS game got worse with the monetization. I thought they could sink no lower after the easy fatality tokens. Surprise Surprise.

It does set a dangerous precedent. If that Halloween fatality sells well, one could expect other core mechanics of the game to be put behind a paywall. And what's worse, if it sells well enough to capture the attention of other publishers, expect basic components of other games having a price tag. I recall playing MK 11 and UNLOCKING alternate pre/post fight intros. Just imagine if something like that one would have to pay to unlock. This is a bit optimistic, but I don't expect this thing sell that well in a game that's $70, mainly due to people in general being financially stretched thin as it is in our current economy.

It's a $12 twenty second cutscene. To put that in perspective. Remember a little game called The Witcher 3? Well, you could purchase two expansion packs for that game that literally added many dozens of hours worth of gameplay to the base game. The well-written and action-packed "Hearts of Stone" and "Blood and Wine" expansions included an enormous new area for you to freely explore and get lost in, and all of that cost you $24,99. And yeah that was back then, and things have changed, and that's a different company, but just looking at it objectively; what you get for what pricetag. How is that discrepancy even remotely explicable, when you paid 25 bucks for what could just as well have been released as a separate game, and having to buy a 20 second fatality for half that price. It's ridiculous and indefensible, and something's gotta give, because that just isn't right. WBG is basically treating this game as an automatic milking system, which means that the fanbase are nothing but cows to them: cattle that needs to be financially drained. How can anyone with a sound mind support that?

It’s wild that I bought Jason in mkx back when it came out for $9.99 crazy how now just a fatality in mk1 is more than a character in mkx

Had a choice to either buy charmin toilet paper or the Halloween fatality. Let’s just say that fatality was fun to do

I was sooooooo waiting for max to say something

I wholeheartedly refuse to spend 10 extra bucks on a game I already spent 100 on launch day. As the kids would say nowadays, "they got me f*cked up."

Also I bought Deadly Alliance Scorpion with my premium addition free time krystals and it was 100% worth, based skin in the game atm

Warner Bros paying their professional players less than a week or two of minimum wage work, for potentially months of promoting their franchise to a massive audience is beyond insulting. Worst part is people will complain about the micro-transactions and still buy them.

Im glad alot of people and big youtubers/streamers like you guys, are addressing this so hopefully warner bros wont do something like this again

Max you're the goat 4 this! Thank you for speaking out against this Injustice!

If it was $12 for a bunch of fatalities, like a dollar per fatality, this wouldn't bug me so much. It seems like any game that has multiplayer that Warner Bros is connected to is riddled, and I mean RIDDLED with microtransactions. They even did it in single player games until the backlash got so bad. There seriously needs to be some regulation on this shit at some point.

I'm glad the extra crystals that came with the preorder at least allowed me to get the Deadly Alliance skin bundle without having to part with money beyond what I laid down already. Gonna have to give a hearty Raiden "I don't think so" to this seasonal stuff at that price. Good job circling this back to WB, though, this is a call coming from the top for sure

Yeah, the consensus around MK1 is crazy. Especially when you find that months after release People are still like "yes, you should buy SF6 immediately!", but from launch most people I've talked to are like "yeah, MK1 is really f*cking good, but I don't think it's worth the full price", and I don't think the gauging does it any favours...

I miss the days of being able to UNLOCK costumes with no DLC. I always felt like I had something to work towards but fighting games are just greedy AF now. Granted, the last fighting game I felt that way was DOAU/DOA4 and DOA is one of the primary culprits of greed.

$12 for a Fatality!! this is a slippery slope we've all seen before..

This is probably my favorite response to this that I’ve seen on KZfaq so far because it seems the least emotional and entitled. I’ve seen a handful of MK KZfaqrs that are really chastising other people in the community if they’re not calling it out and coming off really bratty, and this comes off very matter-of-fact and levelheaded

"Now spending on the Deadly Alliance skin, I can find some justification in that" Jesus Christ, Max, just accept you're part of the problem for ONCE with this series.

What comes out to $30 for the JCVD skin (I know there was other stuff in the CE but the skin is the one that matters) was the start of it, not the Scorpion skin.

What bothered/surprised me the most was seeing this fatality used quite a lot when I played online the day after. We can't say we hate it as a community and then fund it again and again like this, come on guys.

Modern MK and micro transactions. Name a more iconic duo.

Every time I see this on the store I wonder why this couldn't be unlocked for free as part of the halloween update

This was a great explanation

Amen. Max is totally right about that. God bless. Thank you for always thinking about the gamers. Keep up the good work.

It's honestly not hard to put the blame entirely on WB. It doesn't take much just to look at how they market their other games to see they obviously want to nickle and dime their fans for every little bit they can. They were asking huge amounts of money for Back 4 Blood before the game even released when it was obvious the game had glaring issues.

Awesome Video Max. The Microtransactions in Fighting Games nowadays are Outrageous n Aggressive for sure. It's all about getting that Mighty Dollar from the Players.

Boon better do something about this cause my hype for Omni Man can only reach so far. My patience with micro transactions wear thin already I’ve had a grand time with Street Fighter 6 and I’m starting to think I should put more hours in THERE instead of Mortal Kombat 1 😒

I just think the reason they do stuff like this is because enough buy it that it's worth it for them. Kicking up a fuss on social media is great and all, but if there's no response, or just a lacklustre response to this kerfuffle, it's because it worked out well for them in the end.

I’m so glad that people like Max are speaking up about egregious stuff like this. It’s all over modern full priced games and it needs to be checked asap

This is why we love Max. He calls studios out on their bullshit and doesn't pay into it. Even though it's his job, he has morals. It's rare in this sea of content creators.

The worst thing about that "store" is that we can't even zoom in or turn the character to look at the parts that we're trying to buy, for instance I believe Tanya's staffs can only be viewed temporarily in front before she puts it behind her back... HELLO???? I'M TRYING TO LOOK AT WHAT I'M BUYING AND NOT TRYING TO FACEPLANT MYSELF ON MY MONITOR TO SEE 1 PIXEL OF DETAIL...

Ever since Warner Bros. bought the rights to Mortal Kombat it’s been becoming more apparent that MK is being treated as a product first rather than a fighting game.

I spent $100+ for this game, there’s no reason I should be spending even more money in a shop in equivalent to Fortnite, which is a F2P game. Some cool premium skins like deception scorpion are nice, but even then that’s still asking for a bit much. This is 100% WB deciding these prices and I hope they listen to how horrendous this is. things gotta turn around fast

Thank you for talking about this greed

I think the best thing would be, have a seasonal bundle type thing, that would apply for all seasonal fatalities, including future ones if you pay for it.

I wouldn't be surprised if they paywall the stage fatalities for $10+

The kombat pack is $40 when mk11 it was like $15. 1 skin is $10 when 3 were like $4 in MK11. What has this mortal kombat economy come to?

Chances are the fighting tournaments got that idea from the DotA 2 international, where a percentage of every battle pass and cosmetic purchase would be allocated towards the prize pool as early as 2013 (along with milestone rewards for the players when certain levels were reached) The flipside is DotA 2 is a completely F2P game with the only things to buy being cosmetics or announcer packs, and that Valve Software is privately owned.

This game is skating on even thinner ice than it was before.