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Is a ‘Mortal Kombat’ reboot really on the way? Ed Boon causes confusion with latest announcement

The internet is trying to decide whether a recent announcement means Mortal Kombat 12 is forthcoming and whether it will reboot the series.

Mortal Kombat characters

Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon recently riled up the internet with a teaser video that seemed to suggest Mortal Kombat 12 is on the way — and that the game will reboot the series. Boon’s follow-up comments haven’t been much easier to parse, but the gaming legend seems mystified that the internet is arguing about whether his next game is either MK12 or Injustice 3.

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On Wednesday, Boon released a video of a clock ticking from “9” toward midnight, then skipping the number “12” and arriving instead at “1.” His accompanying message was simple: “Does anyone know what time it is? #MortalKombat”

Gaming fans proceeded to freak right out and offer theories that the next Mortal Kombat game would indeed reset the clock on the entire series. Those conjectures were buoyed by a tweet from gaming news leaker billbil_kun, who stated that the next game in the series would be called Mortal Kombat 1 and also offered pricing information:

On Thursday, Boone returned to Twitter seemingly confounded that fans are discussing Injustice 3 as his next project instead of Mortal Kombat:

He then doubled down with another tweet highlighting the internet’s confusion and then, of all things, endorsing the new Flash movie:

First off, Boon is clearly stirring the pot here. If he wanted to truly dissuade people from discussing Injustice 3 then he would have plainly stated that the superhero beat-’em-up is not his next project. But perhaps Boon thinks he basically already said that with the teaser video about Mortal Kombat. Does anything in that video suggest that Injustice 3 is around the bend? Heck, the number “3” isn’t even shown on the clock.

Avid gamers have argued that Boon said previously on Twitter his next project was either MK12 or Injustice 3. The teaser seems to suggest he’s now picked one, but to make things more confusing, there might be a third option here. User MrTonyMaurizio jumped into the fray to remind everyone that Boon also has said he’d like to remaster the original Mortal Kombat trilogy. So perhaps the clock jumping from “11” to “1” actually means Boon is working on a remaster of the original classic before he proceeds to MK12 (sigh, or Injustice 3).

We may get answers at the upcoming Summer Game Fest in early June, which is basically the new E3. Warner Bros. Games — the parent company of Boon’s NetherRealm Studios — is listed as a presenter at the event and is expected to reveal a few upcoming projects. Until then, we’ll just have Boon’s vagueries to get us through the night.