More than 188,000 viewers tuned in to watch Mortal Kombat X live at the Evo World Championships on Sunday.
This peak ranked MKX third among Evo broadcast finals, beating Marvel vs Capcom 3 by roughly 20,000 viewers, and trailing only Super Smash Bros. Melee and Evo darling Ultimate Street Fighter IV. Both top finals crossed the 200,000 viewer mark, with USFIV peaking at over 228k on the official stream. This year was pegged to be the celebratory swansong for SFIV as Capcom's primary fighter, with Street Fighter V coming in 2016. Guilty Gear Xrd trailed at around 121,000 viewers.
This year's performance clearly confirmed what many fans already knew: Mortal Kombat is at home on the competitive world stage!
In truth, Mortal Kombat had already established its credentials as a tournament brand over the course of three years on the Evo bill.
It began in 2011 -- rewriting the script on the competitive viability of the series with the release of Mortal Kombat. The franchise reboot combined iconic identity of the original three games with a rethink of their basic gameplay mechanics. The year that came next was arguably the biggest in the games' competitive lifecycle, helped by an Evo seeding series that incorporated top North American tournaments into a yearlong tour. The 2012 Evo Championship was the culmination of a 6 month narrative that gave rise to top players -- runner-up REO, CD Jr, Ketchup and Mustard -- whose status warranted a documentary featurette series released in 2013.
The establishment of these player identities was important in helping sites like Mortal Kombat Online convey the intrigue of the scene in an accessible manner -- a factor all too often overlooked by the insular culture.
Growth came naturally and the series sustained as all good fighters should -- making it all the more shocking when Mortal Kombat was omitted from the Evo Championship line-up in 2014 [full story].
The rise of another NetherRealm Studios fighter - Injustice: Gods Among Us - was perhaps over estimated as a replacement, while Mortal Kombat was simultaneously under estimated as a continued force. Mortal Kombat Online pitched in prizes to support an unofficial 2014 side tournament. The event attracted the tournament faithful and marked a coming out for dominant 2015 player & winner Sonic Fox. The side event went on to be the most watched MK2011 Evo final on YouTube with a flood of 260,000 views [reported by EventHubs]. At the time of this writing, the unofficial 2014 final has over 570,.000 views.
The series returned to its rightful place with the April release of Mortal Kombat X and the announcement of the 2015 Evo line-up. It was a no brainer. And while top players were pragmatic about MK's omission in 2014, the continued support of fans and the audience shows this is a series that demands attention, and deserves a place at the biggest event on the eSports calendar as much as perennial favourites.
The Richter scale was off the charts in Las Vegas as NetherRealm Studios unveiled their latest downloadable character: Tremor! The obscure klassic was reborn in front of the world as they waited for the finals of the 2015 Evo World Championship in the arena, and live on stream!
As the 2015 Evo World Championships reach their climax, Mortal Kombat X fans will have even more to look forward to than a new World Champion! Developers NetherRealm Studios will unveil the fourth and final character in their downloadable content Kombat Pack - Tremor! It comes just one year after the Evo reveal of Raiden!
Fans in attendance at this year's San Diego Comic-Con have had the chance to take in the sights and sounds of guest DLC fighter Predator and Mortal Kombat X thanks to the Xbox Lounge. Today, the action will kick into a higher gear as Machinima presents a dual Mortal Kombat Kosplay Kontest and Play the Pro Challenge special event!
Three experts - zero nonsense. Start your speculation engines! NetherRealm Studio has released a cryptic live-action trailer to their YouTube channel, asking the question: "Three new reasons to Fight?" Other powers may be at work - but who they are is yet to be revealed in the 37 second video:
As announced on the most recent NetherRealm Kombat Kast - Klassic Fatalities and the Kold War Scorpion skin are now available to everyone for free! If you haven't gained access to the downloadable content yet, you should be able to very soon!
Mortal Kombat X welcomes its second cross-franchise guest character beginning Tuesday with the arrival of The Predator! The alien hunter is Kombat Pack first July 7th, before hitting online stores for individual purchase July 14th!
The fireworks literally flew in Mortal Kombat X this week, celebrating America's Independence Day with a sparkling Light Up The Sky Premier Tower! If you completed the event, the US Special Forces will have saluted your efforts in a special unlockable kombat kard pack of background, border and icons!
July in Mortal Kombat X will be all about the arrival of Predator [read more], but in Compatibility Pack v1.07 the foundations are already being laid for next Kombat Pack addition: Tremor! The full patch notes:
