During the D.I.C.E. Awards ceremony, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has officially declared Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate the winner in the “Fighting Game of the Year” category. That’s the perfect timing for such an important victory as it’s happened just a day ahead of the Mortal Kombat movie’s imminent premiere in the US.
The latest film adaptation of the immensely popular Mortal Kombat gaming franchise is introducing a brand new character, Cole Young. According to the actors involved in making the motion picture, there’s a demand for bringing the newest original fighter to Mortal Kombat 11 alongside movie-based skins for existing fighters. Jessica McNamee and Josh Lawson, who portrayed Sonya Blade and Kano in the film, expressed a desire to see their portrayals of the characters in-game. Since both the characters exist in MK11, it’s just a matter of adding new skins. The situation with Lewis Tan’s Cole Young is more complicated, though, as developer NetherRealm Studios would have to add a brand new fighter to an already tightly populated roster, which is problematic.
The most recent D.I.C.E. Awards show officially selected some of the best video games of the previous year including the victor in the “Fighting Game” category. As revealed on Twitter, Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate became the ultimate winner, and MK11's creative director Ed Boon humbly accepted the award during livestream. MK11’s competitors were EA Sports UFC 4, Granblue Fantasy Versus, and Them’s Fightin’ Herds, each with unique gameplay mechanics and a special approach toward fighting experience. All three games were briefly praised by the Mortal Kombat co-creator who added that it’s particularly great to be included in such an impressive list of titles.
The D.I.C.E. Awards show is an annual award ceremony, which is dedicated to selecting the most outstanding video games of the year and recognizing their contribution to the industry. Although generally, the winners of the show are fairly straightforward, there’re sometimes big surprises. For instance, an unlikely victory in the major Game of the Year category was scored by the Untitled Goose Game in 2020. The humorous indie hit beat such worthy contenders as Control and Death Stranding.
Mortal Kombat 11’s victory at D.I.C.E. Awards is hardly a surprise for anyone, especially considering that the Ultimate edition offers an experience incomparable to other contenders. While the rest of the games in the fighting category were quite appealing, it’s obvious that they had little to no chances against the iconic franchise with an army of long-time fans. Additionally, the success of Mortal Kombat 11 at the show was probably predetermined by the excellent post-launch support executed by NetherRealm, which might inspire developers to drop another Kombat Pack on the occasion of the victory.