NetherRealm Studios' 2013 DC Comics-themed fighting game, Injustice: Gods Among Us, is free on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC until June 25. NetherRealm Studios is best known for developing the Mortal Kombat franchise. The first game, released in 1992, was created by a team of just a handful of people, including Ed Boon and Dan "Toasty" Forden, who are still with the series to this day.
After two decades of creating nothing but Mortal Kombat games, the team at what came to be known as NetherRealm Studios decided to diversify with a new fighting game series. The team had dabbled with the heroes of DC in the divisive Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, but the team was much more successful with 2013's Injustice: Gods Among Us. Primarily set in a universe where Superman has become a tyrannical dictator after murdering Joker for nuking his home city of Metropolis, Injustice took the delightfully melodramatic storytelling and over-the-top fighting of Mortal Kombat and applied it to the storied heroes of DC.
In a surprise announcement reported by Game Informer, publisher WB Games has made Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition free for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC until June 25. This isn't the original PS3/Xbox 360 version of the game, but the updated re-release that contains all of the additional DLC fighters and slightly touched-up visuals (mostly consisting of a higher overall resolution).
This gesture comes in the wake of reports AT&T may be seeking to sell off WB Interactive, putting the future of franchises like Batman: Arkham, Middle-Earth, and the games produced by NetherRealm, in doubt. It's unclear if this free release of Injustice is somehow related to the potential sale, or if WB simply saw an opportunity to gain good will in a particularly strenuous summer season and seized it.
NetherRealm's recent titles, Mortal Kombat 11 and Injustice 2, were bogged down by RPG mechanics, bloated menus, and microtransactions. While the visuals are a primitive compared to those more modern games, Injustice: Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition nonetheless contains 30 different fighters, and most of them have numerous free cosmetic skins. In some ways, this straightforward, old-school approach feels more fresh than the convoluted currencies of the sequel, which seemed more interested in coaxing players to spend real money on in-game loot than actually fighting. For no-holds-barred, one-on-one brawling without the overwhelming gore of the Mortal Kombat games, nothing comes close to Injustice: Gods Among Us.
Source: Game Informer