Mortal Kombat X Release Date Update, Refund: Xbox 360 and PS3 Versions Dropped, NetherRealm Airs New 'Kombat Kast' livestream

Sep 01, 2015 09:18 AM EDT

Mortal Kombat X, a fighting video game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive, was originally scheduled to launch on April this year for previous generation consoles like PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and current versions PlayStation 4, Xbox One along with Windows PC.

However, only the current-gen and PC versions arrived on April. The PS3 and Xbox 360 releases were moved to June and then once again postponed until December. Following a series of delays, Warner Bros. has ultimately decided not to distribute the last-gen console versions at all.

In a post shared on Warner Bros. Games' community website, the publisher cited quality issues that the development team were unable to address.

"After months of development, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has come to the regrettable conclusion that we cannot release Mortal Kombat X for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Please know our teams worked diligently to meet the quality standards set by the current-gen versions of the game. We were not able to get the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions to the quality expected of a Mortal Kombat game and are very sorry for not being able to deliver the products as originally planned," the publisher explained.

The core of the Mortal Kombat game has been developed by NetherRealm Studios while another studio called High Voltage Software was assigned to port the iconic fighting game to the PC as well as the PS4 and Xbox One. The Windows PC version also reportedly encountered porting problems, but this last-gen console cancellation are widely believed to be attributed to power limitations of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

This news may disappoint some who already pre-purchased the title for their older consoles. But given the criticism that Warner Bros. received when it released a "buggy" version of the Batman: Arkham Knight game for PC, some gamers observe that the decision not to offer the new fighting game for older consoles is a good one.

For those who pre-ordered Mortal Kombat X for Xbox 360 and PS3, Warner Bros. instructs them to go to the retail location where they made the purchase and look for the refund option.

Aside from this console version fatality, the game's developers have also gone online and aired a livestream via NetherRealm's official Twitch account on 4 p.m. EST. The livestream was dubbed "Kombat Kast" where the developers shared information about the future of Mortal Kombat X.

The stream is about an upcoming patch and kicked off with the development team listing a handful general gameplay fixes. Those included several timing fixes, wake-up fixes for the Block button, and optional select fixes, among others. The NetherRealm team said that players will no longer have the ability to input special moves in a string. As a result, they will not have to worry about executing the move if the preceding strikes were blocked.

Immediately after wrapping up the Kombat Kast, Warner Bros. has posted the full notes for the imminent patch. It details general gameplay and character fixes that will arrive to the game in the next few days.