It really is a shame that Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection has been more or less abandoned on Steam/PC.

This past weekend, I went to the Houston Arcade Expo for my annual classic arcade gaming fix. While there, I noticed that for the first time they not only had Mortal Kombat II, but the original Mortal Kombat and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 as well. Of course, I had played for several minutes on UMK3 before realizing, "Hey, I could be playing this at home..."

I have Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection for both Xbox 360 and Steam, but my Xbox 360 is currently packed away. So, that night, while waiting for friends to be ready to play Team Fortress 2, I plugged in my USB gamepad and launched MKAK for some classic MK action!

That was the plan, any way. What ended up happening was that the game hung at the title screen. It said "Press Enter" -- but completely ignored when I pressed Enter.

After doing some research, I found that the problem was that Arcade Kollection requires Games for Windows Live, which Microsoft had ended up abandoning [in 2014]. While many games were patched by their developers to use Steamworks instead, MKAK was already essentially abandoned by WB Games, and was never patched. In fact, MKAK is only available for me because I purchased the game; it's no longer available on Steam for purchase.

Fortunately, there is a fix! I mostly got the fix from this guide, though I ended up modifying it via trial and error, and looking at one or two other sites as the steps as given don't work on Windows 10.

The procedure is:

Fans of the original Mortal Kombat trilogy may be disappointed to learn Mortal Kombat: Arcade Kollection has been removed from the Steam digital store.

Mortal Kombat Online has learned the three-in-one game was removed Friday, September 5th. At the time of this reporting, no additional information was available.

Update Sep. 25: Arcade Kollection (mislabelled as "Mortal Kombat Kollection") is now back online! Check it out now for $9.99.

Anecdotal evidence points toward problems relating to the closure of Games for Windows Live [full story] and resulting corruption errors from profile retrievals. Some players have reportedly experienced virtual disk space crashes.

Arcade Kollection is still presently available for home console downloads via Xbox Live and PlayStation Store. The PC version was originally staggered from console releases, available from February, 2012 - some nine months after console release.

Mortal Kombat Online will continue to follow the story as more details become available. Special thanks to MKOmmunity User ShoeUnited for providing information. Register to share your MKAK experience with us on the forums.

2014 may pose challenges to online gaming across multiple Mortal Kombat platforms as disparate services formally cease operation. GameSpy announced their impending closure last week; while Games for Windows Live was put on the chopping block by Microsoft in the middle of last year.

As reported by Polygon; the GameSpy online multiplayer and matchmaking platform used for Mortal Kombat (2011) will cease function May 31st.

GameSpy Technologies has remained autonomous since being acquired by Glu Mobile in August 2012, operating independently to the GameSpy website bought and shut down by Ziff Davis in 2013. Unrelated; GameSpy Technologies ceased software licensing in January 2013, having shut down multiple online servers -- a sign of the direction to come.

Joystiq reported speculation [January] that Games for Windows Live function will cease July 1st. Marked for death last year; Windows Live Marketplace lead the coming closure, ceasing operation last August. The GFWL shut down will affect online function for Mortal Kombat: Arcade Kollection.

Update (May 12): Mortal Kombat (2011) for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 & PC has begun migration to new online servers. A statement was released via the Official Facebook:

We are currently in the process of migrating Mortal Kombat 9 (for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC) from Gamespy’s servers and expect things to go smoothly. During the transition, players may experience an interruption of online play and matchmaking and we ask for your patience during this time. Players will not experience interruptions to offline play throughout this process.

After May 31, Mortal Kombat 9 for PS Vita will only support ad-hoc multiplayer.