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Mortal Kombat X is now the best selling real fighting game of all time (~11 million sold, ~46+ million franchise)

Do you think Mortal Kombat X deserves it's sales?


  • Total voters
    75
When you think about fighting games across the years you remember popular games like Pit Fighter, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat, Clay Fighter, Fighters History, Virtua Fighter, Tekken, Fight Night, etc etc.'

But now we have a new champion for the best selling traditional fighting game of all time, Mortal Kombat X.

The previous champion was Tekken 3, with over 8 million sales. Now with around ~11 Million sales Mortal Kombat X takes that cake. It also brings the franchise within spitting distance of passing Tekken franchise LTD with only ~2.5+ million sales to cover.

Just like the Xbox/PS2 days, Mortal Kombat saves fighting games yet again and picks up the slack in sales. ;)

But let's think about this, this is a MASSIVE feat. Mortal Kombat selling 11 million while most of the other games (in any genre) are struggling to sell 2-5 is crazy, especially with the R rated content the series is known for. It really goes to show that content is everything, also pretty good gameplay and an engaging world as well. This also makes Mk the first fighting game franchise to break double digit numbers.

Mortal Kombat Sales:

Mortal Kombat: 3.5 million

Mortal Kombat 2: 6.5 million

Mortal Kombat 3 and friends: ~4 million (~2 million MKTrilogy)

Mortal Kombat 4/Gold: 1.8 million

Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance: 3.5 million

Mortal Kombat Deception: 3 million

Mortal Kombat Armageddon: 2 million

Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe: 2 million

Mortal Kombat reboot: 5+ million (as of the release of X, likely sold more after)

Mortal Kombat X: Around 11 million and counting.

Spin-offs: 6+ million

The series has always managed to bump itself up preventing periods of irrelevancy. Unlike it's most famous competitor for example, which has a extremely long slump from 1996-2008 which released Street Fighter IV.

Tekken is faring a lot better, but a lot of it's pull was with the first 4 games and it's been trying to come out of a slump. I suspect if MK11 is a success the MK franchise will pass Tekken for number 1 by the end of the 1st month on shelves.

By now fighting game developers should be paying attention, that way we can have more Fighting games selling millions instead of a few K's here and there to a very rapid and isolated fanbase that doesn't seem to want improvements until they have DLC passes and Microstransctions thrown at their face and bare bones content.
 

quickwhips

Member
this is the one with the horror characters right? I think i bought it for 5 buck on xbox. It was pretty fun playing as those characters. I hadn't bought a MK since 3 before this.
 

Stuart360

Member
And Street Fighter 5 only sold about 3.5mil. Mortal Kombat is really the only fighting game series that still sells huge (and Injustice to a lesser extent). Who would of thought fighting games would be like this when you look back to the early 90's when fighting games were huge and Street Fighter 2 was the biggest game on the planet.
 

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
oof it was fun for a week
if i boot it up now all it tells me YOU WAN BUY MORE CHAR ? YOU PAY NOW !!
 

kingbean

Member
It's probably the most fun I've had with a MK game since UMK3, but it's still miles behind even poverty fighters imo.
 

Gamernyc78

Banned
When you think about fighting games across the years you remember popular games like Pit Fighter, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat, Clay Fighter, Fighters History, Virtua Fighter, Tekken, Fight Night, etc etc.'

But now we have a new champion for the best selling traditional fighting game of all time, Mortal Kombat X.

The previous champion was Tekken 3, with over 8 million sales. Now with around ~11 Million sales Mortal Kombat X takes that cake. It also brings the franchise within spitting distance of passing Tekken franchise LTD with only ~2.5+ million sales to cover.

Just like the Xbox/PS2 days, Mortal Kombat saves fighting games yet again and picks up the slack in sales. ;)

But let's think about this, this is a MASSIVE feat. Mortal Kombat selling 11 million while most of the other games (in any genre) are struggling to sell 2-5 is crazy, especially with the R rated content the series is known for. It really goes to show that content is everything, also pretty good gameplay and an engaging world as well. This also makes Mk the first fighting game franchise to break double digit numbers.

Mortal Kombat Sales:

Mortal Kombat: 3.5 million

Mortal Kombat 2: 6.5 million

Mortal Kombat 3 and friends: ~4 million (~2 million MKTrilogy)

Mortal Kombat 4/Gold: 1.8 million

Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance: 3.5 million

Mortal Kombat Deception: 3 million

Mortal Kombat Armageddon: 2 million

Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe: 2 million

Mortal Kombat reboot: 5+ million (as of the release of X, likely sold more after)

Mortal Kombat X: Around 11 million and counting.

Spin-offs: 6+ million

The series has always managed to bump itself up preventing periods of irrelevancy. Unlike it's most famous competitor for example, which has a extremely long slump from 1996-2008 which released Street Fighter IV.

Tekken is faring a lot better, but a lot of it's pull was with the first 4 games and it's been trying to come out of a slump. I suspect if MK11 is a success the MK franchise will pass Tekken for number 1 by the end of the 1st month on shelves.

By now fighting game developers should be paying attention, that way we can have more Fighting games selling millions instead of a few K's here and there to a very rapid and isolated fanbase that doesn't seem to want improvements until they have DLC passes and Microstransctions thrown at their face and bare bones content.

R rating I don't think makes much difference as stats show that nowadays most gamers are adults, not adolescents. Average gamer is like 34 with over 75% being over the age of 20.

But good for MK as I think it's a great fighting franchise.
 

Helios

Member
It's a more casual fighting game. I still jump into it from time to time with a few of my friends. And we can always play Test Your Luck if one of us is pretty bad at the game to even the odds and still have a fun time.
In my country MK has always been bigger than SF and including Horror characters helps boost that even more.
 

Stuart360

Member
I think the MK Universe is still cool and interesting. Very adult and gory, interesting mythical characters and different dimensions. MK has always been the most interesting fighting series for me. Much better than Street Fighter and its generic universe (still great games though).
 

Silent Duck

Member
this is the one with the horror characters right? I think i bought it for 5 buck on xbox. It was pretty fun playing as those characters. I hadn't bought a MK since 3 before this.
Jason Vorhees is my main. I sometimes use the Predator. Don’t bother with the rest.
giphy.gif

FATALITY!
 
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It's a very good game with lots of content for casuals and decent depth for hardcore. I wonder how much of this has to do with the digital version being on sale for under $10 every couple months. I don't know much about game economics, but I'd bet they started turning a profit a long time ago and with the new game announced there is no reason not to lower the price and keep milking sales.

On a side note, in that Gamespot rapid fire interview Ed Boon said he was a 9.6 on a 10 scale in his desire to make a new IP. I hope he gets the chance as 1. he deserves a shot at doing something new. and 2. I want to see their next fighter take a huge leap to do something different and overall just make MK and Injustice feel completely different.

Unfortunately, NRS is printing money for WB on their current schedule and I doubt WB wants to take a risk on something new.
 

CatCouch

Member
I like Mortal Kombat. The amount of content in recent games has been quite satisfying!

This shows that games having mature content does not cause them to sell worse. I'm not a fan of the violence, though. MK characters don't hook me like the character designs from Street Fighter and Tekken do.

Does Smash Bros. not count as a fighting game or does it get excluded for not being "traditional"? Ultimate sold a lot.
 
It's a very good game with lots of content for casuals and decent depth for hardcore. I wonder how much of this has to do with the digital version being on sale for under $10 every couple months. I don't know much about game economics, but I'd bet they started turning a profit a long time ago and with the new game announced there is no reason not to lower the price and keep milking sales.

On a side note, in that Gamespot rapid fire interview Ed Boon said he was a 9.6 on a 10 scale in his desire to make a new IP. I hope he gets the chance as 1. he deserves a shot at doing something new. and 2. I want to see their next fighter take a huge leap to do something different and overall just make MK and Injustice feel completely different.

Unfortunately, NRS is printing money for WB on their current schedule and I doubt WB wants to take a risk on something new.

Probably another attempt at a futuristic fighting game since that's the only area they don't have covered. Either that or doing another RUSH style game since apparently Boon loved that series.

Of course for all we know it could be an RPG. There is a reason why Deceptions Konquest mode was how it was, they wanted to make a MK rpg like open world. Now that they have the engine down, I could see him putting out a new RPG.
 

Kamina

Golden Boy
Whats a real fighting game?
Afro Republican apparently loves his Mortal Kombat, so everything that doesn't at least resemble that type of mature fighting game isn't a „real fighting game“. His other thread shows the same message.
 

SonGoku

Member
Afro Republican apparently loves his Mortal Kombat, so everything that doesn't at least resemble that type of mature fighting game isn't a „real fighting game“. His other thread shows the same message.
3.0
I thought there was a category or some shit, and here i find out its some dumb bs.
 
Afro Republican apparently loves his Mortal Kombat, so everything that doesn't at least resemble that type of mature fighting game isn't a „real fighting game“. His other thread shows the same message.

I had no idea that Blazblu was a mature fighting game now. Or maybe you're just mad?
 
i thought there was a category or some shit, and here i find out its some dumb bs.

A real fighting games is a traditional fighting game, and I'm not even close to the only one that separate them. Also odd you don't know this, despite being on a gaming board for awhile.
 

Petrae

Member
I bought Mortal Kombat X on both PS4 and XBO, and I’m getting MK11 for the Xbox One X. Netherrealm does what Capcom won’t by adding decent single-player modes to its games and having them ready for launch instead of months later.

I used to be a HUGE Street Fighter guy, too, but Capcom has really screwed the pooch with the franchise this gen. SFV was empty and the 30th Anniversary Collection had major problems. I wouldn’t bother if there was a Street Fighter VI.

I don’t play many other fighting games. Dead or Alive, Blazblue, the SNK games, and the others just don’t interest me. As for Smash Bros., I do play, but only casually and like to visit it more for the excellent soundtrack.
 

FeldMonster

Member
I like Mortal Kombat. The amount of content in recent games has been quite satisfying!

This shows that games having mature content does not cause them to sell worse. I'm not a fan of the violence, though. MK characters don't hook me like the character designs from Street Fighter and Tekken do.

Does Smash Bros. not count as a fighting game or does it get excluded for not being "traditional"? Ultimate sold a lot.

You are not a fan of violence, in a fighting game? You know they are called "fighting" games for a reason. I could understand if you stated that you were not a fan of gore, but being a fan of fighting games and not the violence within them seems like some strange cognitive dissonance that I cannot wrap my head around.
 

DForce

NaughtyDog Defense Force
Game sells well because it's a Mortal Kombat game. Mortal Kombat fans felt the roster in Mortal Kombat 9 was better, leaving the a lot of the fan favorites outside of Mortal Kombat X.
 
Super Smash Bros is a "real" fighting game. If you want to distinguish competitive focused games from it, call them competitive focused or even call SSB a "party" fighting game. This kind of random snobbery is why some people look down upon the fighting community.
 

yurinka

Member
It proves that the hardcore proplayers are just a tiny fraction of the market. People like Namco or specially Capcom should learn how important is the single player content because the people who plays online is just a small fraction of the market.
 

zenspider

Member
Super Smash Bros is a "real" fighting game. If you want to distinguish competitive focused games from it, call them competitive focused or even call SSB a "party" fighting game. This kind of random snobbery is why some people look down upon the fighting community.

I would agree with you here before I got into Smash Ultimate. It's a real fighting game. It might be realer.

Dismissing Smash for it's party mode may as well be dissing MK for it's single-player non-competitive "wank mode".
 

BlackTron

Member
Maybe "best selling old school/traditional style" fighting game would have been better phrasing.

The similarities that liken this to old games would still be largely subjective and arbitrary, but at least there wouldn't be some stuck up implication that a certain other franchise doesn't count.

This is like saying a 2D game is the best platformer because only 2D ones are *real*, totally ignoring the likes of Mario64 to the discussion. You could have just said "best 2D platformer" without actively insulting 3D ones, and imposing your own opinions as to what attributes are allowed in the genre for it to "count" as if it were gospel.

Silly!
 
Maybe "best selling old school/traditional style" fighting game would have been better phrasing.

The similarities that liken this to old games would still be largely subjective and arbitrary, but at least there wouldn't be some stuck up implication that a certain other franchise doesn't count.

This is like saying a 2D game is the best platformer because only 2D ones are *real*, totally ignoring the likes of Mario64 to the discussion. You could have just said "best 2D platformer" without actively insulting 3D ones, and imposing your own opinions as to what attributes are allowed in the genre for it to "count" as if it were gospel.

Silly!
I always use the term arcade fighter. Arcade fighter (2D and 3D), arena fighter, party fighter.

Wow I was never into MK so I had no idea that it was that popular.
11 million is insane.
In your defense, MKX is a odd one out for the series, even the second best selling is only 5 million., which was the previous. After MK3 the series hit a big spiral, normally selling 1-2 million, with Deadly Alliance cracking 2.5, Midway went Bankrupt during MK vs DC release, it was at 1.9 million when they went under. Heard it cracked 3 million after Warner reissued it under there label, but don't know for sure.
 
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SonGoku

Member
A real fighting games is a traditional fighting game, and I'm not even close to the only one that separate them. Also odd you don't know this, despite being on a gaming board for awhile.
I didnt/dont that's why i asked
So Tekken is a real fighting game too?
 

GrayFoxRJ

Banned
Smash IS a real fighting game. Platform fighting games are already an established subgenre and it has proven to be very successful in terms of audience and acceptance.

Not every one likes the imposed restrictions of the limited mirrors traditional fighting games, that are not even similar to the original ones back on the 8bits.

And everyone knows that MK sells due to brand recognition, presentation and aesthetics. The fatalities are still an element very well known by non-gamers that love that Gore shit festa as means to "own" their friends and see that unneeded brutality. Western society to you 101. And edginess that still is "cool" for some reason
 
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Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
I think I'm going to enjoy MK11 more. The combo play is being dialed back to more like old school MK and the aesthetic is shifted back from pandering to horror movie cameos. There has also been talk from insiders that it will be the most-supported MK by far with plenty of post release content and even surprising applications of new types of content.
 
If you count all version of Street Fighter II, then it's the best-selling fighting game by far. The World Warrior sold 6.8 million on SNES, Turbo sold another 4.1 million on the SNES, and Super sold 2 million or so on the SNES. The various version of Street Fighter II sold nearly 13 million on the SNES alone. The sales are split up between three versions because it was before the era of DLC. Fighting games today can expand their rosters via DLC and continue to rack up sales, but this simply wasn't an option in the early '90s. Street Fighter 2 and its various versions have sold significantly more than any Mortal Kombat game. It's not even close. The OP grouped "Mortal Kombat 3 and friends" and "Mortal Kombat 4/Gold" together, so I'm sure he won't have an issue with me grouping the various versions of SF2 together.

It's kind of a moot point, though, since this entire thread is based on a lie. The Smash Bros. series has had several entries that have outsold any Mortal Kombat game. Smash is obviously a real fighting game series, so Mortal Komat X wouldn't even have a place on the podium of best-selling fighting games.
 
I bought Mortal Kombat X on both PS4 and XBO, and I’m getting MK11 for the Xbox One X. Netherrealm does what Capcom won’t by adding decent single-player modes to its games and having them ready for launch instead of months later.

I used to be a HUGE Street Fighter guy, too, but Capcom has really screwed the pooch with the franchise this gen. SFV was empty and the 30th Anniversary Collection had major problems. I wouldn’t bother if there was a Street Fighter VI.

I don’t play many other fighting games. Dead or Alive, Blazblue, the SNK games, and the others just don’t interest me. As for Smash Bros., I do play, but only casually and like to visit it more for the excellent soundtrack.

Yea but apparently with Capcom now we either get really good fighting games and all their other projects suffer a bit quality wise or we get mediocre fighting games and everything else from them is extremely good and well polished.

I mean MVC3 and SF4 were Capcom's best games last gen that were both incredibly well received and look how it's flip flopped this gen. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 

ethomaz

Banned
RiP Fighting games because it is a average to bad fighting game.

BTW inaccurate like usual... there are others fighting games that sold more... MK X is TOP5 best-selling thought.
 
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Real fighting game? Unless this is about Smash Brothers.......

I'm not really surprised at the sales. The game's proverbial history, extreme violence, style and aesthetic appeal more to the Western or even a worldwide audience than most other fighting games. Sort of a similar reason why the From Software RPGs appeal to more people than something like a Blue Reflection or God Eater.
 

Woo-Fu

Banned
A real fighting games is a traditional fighting game, and I'm not even close to the only one that separate them..

If a real fighting game is a traditional fighting game then call it a traditional fighting game instead of trying to push an agenda with your terminology.

"Mortal Kombat X is now the best selling traditional fighting game*."

*based upon how I classify fighting games
 

Hinedorf

Banned
I've played them all. From the origin in the arcade to bartering with parents to hand over original title on Sega Genesis.

10 was shit, completely and absolute shit. Sorry if you disagree. I am of the opinion the series has continued to regress since MK3/UMK3.

After the last installment I might be done for good. No plans to buy 11 from everything I've seen it's an easy pass.

Fatalities, Animalities, Babilities, Friendship (Friendship?) - When this returns as my expectation, I'll get excited about a MK game.
 

Rest

All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
It proves that the hardcore proplayers are just a tiny fraction of the market. People like Namco or specially Capcom should learn how important is the single player content because the people who plays online is just a small fraction of the market.
Fighting games are for playing with someone in the same room or single player. The fact that most fighting games don't provide much single player content is foolish.
 
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