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Mortal Kombat 11 is charging $6 for Frost, a free character

Published: 13:38, 24 April 2019
Updated: 17:03, 24 April 2019
NetherRealm Studios
Picture of Frost from Mortal Kombat 11
Mortal Kombat 11 - Frost

Mortal Kombat 11 is a worthy fighting game but Warner Bros. and NetherRealm seem to be keen on destroying the game's reputation with microtransactions. For example, they are selling Frost for $6, while you can unlock her in story mode.

Frost was the last character that was revealed for Mortal Kombat 11 and was never marketed as DLC. Warner Bros. apparently couldn't pass on an opportunity to pluck another $5.99 / €5.99 / £4.99 out of player pockets as they attempted to sell Frost for that price.

The catch here is that the character can be unlocked for free by just playing the story mode and neither developer nor publisher put a disclaimer about it anywhere, potentially leading players to believe she is paid DLC.

They are apparently trying to bamboozle players for additional money without telling them that simply playing the game will unlock Frost for them. Wouldn't make much for a promo line - "Pay now and you don't even have to play".

For reference, Frost is unlocked by progressing through Chapter 4 of the story, named "Fire and Ice". Mortal Kombat 11 has 12 chapters, meaning that players only have to go through 33 per cent of the story in order to unlock Frost, which is far from being grindy or uninteresting. Therefore, the "saving your time" excuse does not apply here.

This is a new low for an already questionable recurring revenue model that all but forced players to purchase in-game items in order to progress Time Towers, that the developers already confirmed would be adjusted.

Egregious microtransaction practices beg the question whether they actually mean they messed up and want to fix unlock pacing or they were simply testing out how much microtransaction pressure gamers would endure before revolting and will only fix it after gorging on impatient players' microtransaction money.

NetherRealm Studios Picture of the ending of Chapter 4 in Mortal Kombat 11 Mortal Kombat 11

This is not the first time Warner Bros. pulled a predatory microtransaction stunt that caused major backlash among the gaming community. Middle-Earth: Shadow of War was shot in the foot on release due to absurd loot box mongering in a singleplayer game. 

Loot boxes were eventually flushed from the game but only after it passed its critical early sales period, but Shadow of War was crucified by enraged players who hated the microtransaction practices and the franchise's reputation remained damaged.

Mortal Kombat 11 is a fighting game by NetherRealm Studios

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A man with an axe running through a forest in SCUM

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