A deleted post calling for people to test a AAA 2D fighting game is suspected to be referring to NetherRealm Studios’ next project, which is presumably the long-rumoured Injustice 3.
Last year, NetherRealm Studios announced that it would no longer be releasing new content for Mortal Kombat 1, meaning it was shifting priorities to its next project.
The immediate assumption is that the studio is working on a new entry in its DC Comics fighting game series Injustice, especially as an Injustice 3 has been rumoured for years.
It’s now believed that this Injustice sequel is currently being playtested, which could herald an announcement in the near future.
This comes from a posting by Good Gamer Group, which offers private NDA protected playtests for upcoming video games. Said posting is no longer available but, according to EventHubs, it referred to a major AAA 2D fighting game.
At the time of writing, there are no upcoming fighting games that fit that description. The only major fighting games to have been announced are Sega’s Virtua Fighter Crossroads and the next Dead Or Alive, which are 3D fighting games.
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Obviously, this playtest must be for something that hasn’t been announced yet, but why is Injustice 3 the prevailing theory? It’s because the posting also mentioned the playtest is being held in the US, specifically Culver City, California.
This points to this fighting game coming from an American developer, and since NetherRealm has almost exclusively worked on AAA 2D fighting games, it is the most obvious choice.
Granted, NetherRealm itself is based in Chicago, Illinois, but parent company Warner Bros. Discovery just so happens to have one of its headquarters based in Culver City, the same place where the playtest is being held.
We’ve seen some suggestions that the game could be something from Capcom as it too has offices in Culver City. However, Capcom already has Street Fighter 6, which continues to make money through DLC and microtransactions. Releasing a second 2D fighting game alongside Street Fighter 6 would only risk the two cannibalising one another.
Earlier this year, NetherRealm boss Ed Boon did confirm that work was underway on another Mortal Kombat sequel, but he added that his team were ‘definitely doing more as well,’ so there’s no guarantee the studio’s next game is Mortal Kombat related.
Two Injustice voice actors also let slip last year that they had recorded voice work for Injustice 3, and while there is a DC-themed fighting game called DCKO planned for 2027, it’s a free-to-play mobile game, so it can hardly be described as AAA.
The real question is whether it’ll even be called Injustice 3. DC Studios CEO James Gunn has expressed an interest in being more involved with DC’s video game output (he even posited having the games and movies share the same actors) and has spoken with NetherRealm, so it’s entirely possible the series will see something of a reboot to better align with the current movies.
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