Great work! I always wanted this. Hopefully NRS implements this list like with MK9 on their web-site. They are clearly collecting the data so why not just show it like they did for MK9. Incredibly annoying that you have to stare at the ticker to see it.

Looking at that list should be an eye opener for people and just goes to show that the feelings of the messageboard are no way indicative of the MK fanbase as a whole.

Case in point is Jax. For all the hate he got during the build up to MKX he is comfortably in the top half and in the top 10.

Scorpion is at the top and percentage wise is even more popular than MK9. He has at least double the usage of every character except Sub-Zero. Sub-Zero has made a big jump as well considering he was well behind Scorpion in MK9.

Takeda has done really well. I never thought he would be the most popular newcomer but he is. I do not know why that is but well done to him and his fans. Kung Jin is just as popular I feel.

Overall all the Special Forces characters are popular except Jacqui even with the moaning about that there are too many Special Forces on the roster.

Raiden and Liu Kang are still popular but have taken steps backward.

Nice to see Cassie right up there. Always nice to see the new protaganist received so well. Johnny Cage also doing great like I expected. Sonya is higher than I expected to be honest. Very happy about that. The garbage that too many Cage family taken up roster spots and how they can be differentiated can be put to rest. All of the Cage family are well received.

D'Vorah and Erron Black being where they are just shows that NRS can introduce new characters that are popular and well received off the bat with good gameplay. Personally I find both awkward to use but they got fans. Nice.

LOL at Kitana and Mileena being in the bottom half. Those positions are deceptive. Both Kung Jin and Raiden are much more used then both Kitana and Mileena. 16th and 17th out of 25 is bad for the "poster girls" of MK. LOL that two new female characters beat them easily and Sonya kicked them to touch too. Can have no complaints about gameplay either. Both are quick and are great to play as in my opinion. Certainly easier to play as than Erron Black or D'Vorah.

Reptile is in the lower half again along with Kano and Quan Chi. The fact that the much maligned Ferra/Torr and Jacqui are keeping these three honest speaks volumes. I am fairly sure we will not be seeing Quan Chi in the next game. Probably Kano as well. Hopefully Reptile as well although to me it seems he gets a more free pass than most.

Yeah, it is hard to say what they are going to do for the next game, but Quan Chi is right up there for my favourite villain too. As someone else said, yes he wasn't as great in this game, especially because he was kind of a pushover. But that said I did really enjoy seeing him get his ass kicked a bunch of times lol.

I have always found Quan Chi to be one of the harder characters to get good with. Another factor may be his variations, consider they change very little on the surface of his gameplay (haven't put the time into getting good with him).

I certainly do not think he is a character that new players to the franchise would often choose, but I love the character (Or love to hate him, but he is a big reason I will end up being on Brotherhood of Shadow by the time I max out every Faction).

That said, I would definitely miss him if he wasn't in the next game! I probably won't ever have him as one of my top played characters, but that is just because I have a hard time with his playstyle (even though I love his playstyle once you get a hold of him).

Wooah Sonya that high? here I was thinking I was special playing with her online, I haven't fought another Sonya in ages? its probably us handful of loyal Sonya fans that are boosting her stats up by not picking another character and keep playing with her repeatedly lol!

last i checked her special forces variation was the most popular.

really shocked to see Kano so low, if he's gonna go out then atleast he went out with a Bang in MKX, they did a great job with him in this game.

You know seeing the character stacked up like this just made me realize how small the roster is in this game.
I'm so glad Kenshi, Sonya and Jax are up there, with Cassie and Takeda I really thought they were on their way out.

Quan chi is the only MK4 character that gets so many appearances in MK games and people still don't pick him much. He even cameo'd in MKvsDC, the only 3D era character to do so. And he was planned to be DLC in that game too. And he gets to be one of only two unlockable characters in MK9. Shoved down our throats by the NRS team yet the casuals won't touch him. I think its time they promote other 3D era characters. Might as well give other unpopular characters a chance too. Quan chi had his time to shine.

EDIT: Either alot of people pre-ordered or Goro DLC did extremely well! I'm surprised hes pretty high up!

As someone who currently mains Reptile and Quan Chi I'm totally fine with this list. It always bugs me to get good with a character everybody else plays for some reason. Quan Chi's numbers will go up tho, he's one of the best characters in the game, mark my words.

Surprised Erron Black is only #11, seems like every other person I play in ranked chooses him. Have barely played any Jonny Cage's too.

Liu Kang and Kenshi are too popular, people play them a lot. Same as Baraka in MK9, he is WAY more popular than Stryker that's why he was above him even though Stryker had a story mode chapter.

I'm pretty sure that's the case, one "prove" of this is Jax being so high on the list and his popularity is equal to Kano's. No way Jax would be that high, anyone who have been following the popularity of MK characters (like me) would know this.

Now, the Jacqui case is weird. I haven't been following to know if she was always that low, but if what you say it's true, maybe for some reason her story mode usage doesn't count (because of a bug or something)?

Characters like Kano and Quan Chi, keep coming back because of their reputation in the MK lore. Whether people use them or not is borderline irrelevant. I know that sucks for their detractors, but you need to deal with it.

Characters like Noob and Smoke suffer from the opposite problem. They were top 5 most used in MK9, but story-wise, they are completely irrelevant and hence why they are not here this time around.

I definitely think that story wise plays a big role on character usage. You are essentially forced to play all the good guys and get accustomed to them, so some people probably pick them up as mains as a result of it. That would explain Takeda/Cassie ranking really high and characters like Reptile Ferra/Torr ranking low. They also make henchmen the most pointless characters in story mode so that could partially explain that despite their contributions to the MK lore, characters like Kano, Baraka, Reptile etc. are often unused.

All this. Plus people seem to forget that some characters are designed to be easier to use for rookies and that helps A LOT in their usage. Kitana is a prime example. She was one of the easiest characters to use in MK9 and was one of the highest ones. In MKX that is not the case and look where she is in the list...

Shouldn't we keep in mind that a good majority of these players are probably casual gamers. Watch when the next big game comes out, like Arkham Knight, the numbers will change once they all migrate.

Allow me not to believe these stats.
What's important is who's counting and what public opinion it wants to create.
This is just like the Mayweather v Pacquiao stats, where an American team counted that Floyd attempted more punches than the Filipino: 435-429. LOL! Seems to me that they're pushing Jax down our throats to justify his inclusion. I hope he dies a horrible death and he never appears in a MK game again. He took a spot that could have been for so many great 3D characters.

No, they were not. The top five most used characters in MK9 were Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Liu Kang and Johnny Cage. Smoke was seventh while Noob was tenth.

Lumping Baraka and Reptile with Kano is also pointless since Baraka was 14th and Reptile was 15th on the usage list. Kano was 24th, ten places below.

The onlye reason Kitana and Mileena are so at the bottom is they got no chapter in Story Mode. So far, Mileena is the most popular female character online. For every Sonya Blade, there are five players playing as Mileena. Easily, i must see a lot of Mileena player and one or two Cassie and Sonya. Story mode was completed, stats taken from online room, nearly 1.400.000 time. Every character in story mode was uses at least, 7 million of time more than other characters.

Obviously Mileena and KItana are so damn popular

Where is your source for this? Because we rather believe the game's stats over whatever you're saying.

Kitana and Mileena are 16th and 17th?? The chart has them as 14th and 15th. More so middle of the pack than bottom.

According to the OP at the time OP collected the stats Raiden's and Kung Jin's usage had reset two weeks after launch. Raiden and Kung Jin are more used than either Kitana or Mileena. Probably much higher up the list.

Raiden was the third most used character in MK9 and is more popular than Kitana or Mileena. There is practically no chance that Raiden is used less than Kitana or Mileena. I would expect Raiden near Johnny Cage and Liu Kang on the list.

Aren't these just the stats for online used characters?
So if I play on my PS4 in my living room with my friends then you have no idea which characters I use.
So it's obvious that friends and friends of friends who don't really buy this game but are only casual players will play as Jax or Sonya or Raiden because they remember them from 20 years ago, but the people who actually buy the game and are on the online mortal kombat forums chating (this one and others) definitely don't use Jax that much! This I take from the dozens of hours of reading posts here. Almost everybody hates Jax!

I'm assuming these stats are from overall character usage not just online, the game monitors character usage offline as well and lists your favourite characters by usage.

It doesn't matter if you're hardcore or a casual player, characters are there to be used and to have fun with win or lose.

I don't think story mode is included otherwise jaquie would be higher.

Apparently Tremor has been played 20 times

Liu Kang now becoming an asshole will only increase his popularity.

Yesterday, the online rooms confirmed the Story Mode was completedes nearly 1.400.000 times. That means every character in Story Moden was used "extra" 7 millions times

I don't see how one proves the other. You made a statement, followed by a personal assumption built on the other assumption that Story Mode plays are pooled in. I'm not arguing on either side (although personally I highly doubt Story plays count, given how low Jacquie is), just fairly challenging the statement here...



Anyway, I can't help but chuckle at how the generally negative, churlish opinions of the MKO community throughout the game's production so drastically differ from the actual MK community's opinions. It's both admittedly petty and very satisfying for me to see the scepters some of you were wielding for months turn to a stick in the face of post-release reality. Beautiful.



Thank you for keeping track of this, bud! Took some time!

You can pretty sure it is nonsense because if the characters in story mode were used an "extra" 7 million times then Jacqui would have been used less than 0.5 million times outside of this.

It is a nonsense statement. Story mode has been completed ~1400000 times last I checked but how that equates to 7 million more uses for said characters is anomaly.

I feel like Kenshi is so high based solely off that full screen combo move thingy lol.

oh wow. Kitana and Mileena are so close in numbers.

Shame to see Jacqui, Ferra/Torr and especially and Reptile at such a low number.
Kano and Shinnok deserve a higher place too, they were really well made this game.