Mortal Kombat 11 Backlash Erupts Over Female Characters

Fan backlash has erupted on social media regarding the new Mortal Kombat 11 video game which has covered up female characters, but not the male characters.

NeatherRealm Studios, the maker of the game, has confirmed the changes themselves in an interview with Mortal Kombat 11 art director Steve Beran with Polygon from back in March.

Beran says his team has taken a more measured approach with the art direction in MK11. That’s especially true of the the game’s female fighters.

Beran also states:

“Our character lead, Brendan George, has been a breath of fresh air of just introducing new ideas. Our design is just getting more mature and respectful. You’re not going to wear a bikini to a fight. You’re not going to be showing so much skin. I think it’s just what the game is about: You’re going in to fight for your life, and you’re not going to be wearing such scantily clad items.”

Below you can check out the social media reaction and pics of the female characters as well as their male counterparts, which do show a lot of skin.

My own thoughts on what Beran has to say is that he is 100% wrong. Aside from the obvious PC BS, I would simply point to the UFC which features both male and female fighters wearing the least amount of clothing as possible, under their rules. Why? Simply because any clothing can be used against you in a fight or battle and can be a big disadvantage. It actually goes both ways, wearing no armor or clothing can hurt you against weapons and projectiles, and wearing armor or what have you can at times come at a disadvantage against faster or more knowledgable opponents. Jujitsu came about because of the Samurai wearing armor, so they needed to have some way to counter the armor, which is why Jujitsu techniques are mainly all joint techniques. The Samurai, wearing armor, were vulnerable at the joints, fingers, etc. Practitioners of both Jujitsu and Judo also love clothing as it makes their opponent easier to choke, throw, etc. Since Mortal Kombat is essentially hand-to-hand one-on-one combat, it doesn’t make too much sense to have them wearing lots of armor or clothing, especially clothing that could easily be grabbed or used against an opponent.

So we see NetherRealm, Ed Boon, Steve Beran, and Brendan George are simply clueless. #RIPMortalKombat

(h/t youtube)

Mortal Kombat 11 backlash social media reactions:

Mortal Kombat 11 pics: