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The new 'Mortal Kombat' is packed with obnoxious extra fees that are going to make a lot of money

Dave Smith   

The new 'Mortal Kombat' is packed with obnoxious extra fees that are going to make a lot of money
Tech2 min read

The new "Mortal Kombat" game ain't cheap.

The game alone costs $60. If you want the "Kollector's Edition," including a collectible figure and some other extra content, that'll be $150. There's also a slew of optional downloadable content that costs between $2 and $30. 

Most notably, if you want to pull off those famous finishing moves - like the selfie fatality - without needing to remember a long combination of buttons, you can pay $0.99 for five "easy" fatalities, which simplifies the sequence of button prompts into a single button tap. You can also pay $5 for 30 of them.

But here's the thing: Once you use up those "easy" fatalities you bought, you have to buy them all over again.

Historically, fatalities have been the big draw of "Mortal Kombat" games. Players have to memorize complicated button combinations to pull off the moves, but the payoff is an over-the-top death sequence.

The new "Mortal Kombat" game, developed by Netherrealm and published by Warner Bros., seeks to make those moves more accessible to casual players by charging about a small amount to easily use them. However, players still have the option to use the complicated button combinations the old-fashioned way.

Mortal Kombat X

Netherrealm Studios/Warner Bros.

Fatalities are what made "Mortal Kombat" so popular in the first place.

Microtransactions like these can be equally effective and soul-deadening. They're great for the companies that make these games, as games like "Candy Crush" and "Clash of Clans" prove, but they're often the source of frustration for gamers who constantly have to shell out cash to access features.

But while it may make sense for mobile games that are either free or cost a few bucks at first, it seems particularly obnoxious for a game that already costs $60.

We're sad to see "Mortal Kombat" go in this direction. The franchise has existed for over 20 years, starting off in arcades and eventually moving into living rooms, and it's the most successful fighting game franchise ever, according to Guinness. But while "Mortal Kombat X" may be fun, buyers should be wary and think about how much the game will really cost.

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