Mortal Kombat 12 "leak" is way too perfect to have been an accident

Mortal Kombat 11
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

The first big Mortal Kombat 12 teaser has arrived via a "leak" that's just too perfect to have been an accident.

The teaser took the form of a few lines of text hidden in plain sight in an image posted to Twitter by NetherRealm Studios producer Jonathan Andersen. The post has since been deleted, but ResetEra user CaptainKashup grabbed a copy before it disappeared. At first the image seems to just be a nostalgic look back at promotional materials and concept art from the Mortal Kombat and Injustice games, all arrayed across a desk.

The computer monitor in the upper right part of the image is largely out of frame and partially obscured by the art, but we can make out a few details: a couple snippets of an email saying not to "share any part of this video" because "fans eagerly scrape the internet for any trace", and a few files sitting on the desktop, including one named "MK12_Mast…" and another with the word "Reptile" in it.

Given the reference to a video in the email message and the file with "mast" - as in "master" - in its name, it looks a whole lot like NetherRealm Studios is teasing a Mortal Kombat 12 trailer. The mention of Reptile also points to great news for fans of the acid-spitting lizard dude who debuted way back in the original Mortal Kombat but wasn't playable in Mortal Kombat 11.

NetherRealm Studios head Ed Boon said back in December that he wished he could announce the developer's next game, but cited more "variables involved than we are allowed to disclose." If NetherRealm is ready to drop cheeky teasers like this, it looks like those variables might have just about found their place in the equation.

NetherRealm confirmed back in July that it had ended work on Mortal Kombat 11 to double down on its next project.

Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.

Read more
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat 2 release date, trailer, cast, plot, and more news
Mortal Kombat 1 Floyd
Mortal Kombat 1 makes good on a 30-year tradition of trolling fans by introducing a confusing, labyrinthine quest to fight pink Floyd, a new ninja
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat 2 unveils the first look at The Boys star Karl Urban's Johnny Cage in the most Johnny Cage way imaginable
Mortal Kombat 1 fatalities Conan the Barbarian
All Mortal Kombat 1 Fatalities and how to perform them
Death Stranding 2 PS5 screenshot
If you were wondering where the new Death Stranding 2 trailer was yesterday, it looks like Hideo Kojima is still working on it
A screenshot from the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake.
Metal Gear Solid 3 remake release date leaked by PlayStation, alongside a silly Ape Escape mode returning from the PS2 days
Latest in Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat 2 3DO
After 32 years, Mortal Kombat 2 has finally been ported to the one hyper-expensive '90s console that could actually do it justice
Mortal Kombat 1 Floyd
Mortal Kombat 1 makes good on a 30-year tradition of trolling fans by introducing a confusing, labyrinthine quest to fight pink Floyd, a new ninja
Close up of Arcade1up Mortal Kombat cabinet next to Prime Day Deals badge with navy backdrop
I'm dangerously close to replacing my coffee table with a Mortal Kombat arcade machine thanks to Prime Day
Mortal Kombat 1 fatalities Conan the Barbarian
All Mortal Kombat 1 Fatalities and how to perform them
Megan Thee Stallion Mortal Kombat 11
Check out the very first sketch of Mortal Kombat's iconic dragon emblem
Mortal Kombat 11
Johnny Cage is teasing a new Mortal Kombat project
Latest in News
Snow falls as guards in armor and red highlights wait in Wuchang: Fallen Feathers
Black Myth: Wukong empowered fellow soulslike devs to become China's first "elite" devs on par with Naughty Dog or Capcom: "The market has been validated"
Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
After 26 years, a secret Star Wars reference to George Lucas has been uncovered: "We got a new Phantom Menace Easter Egg before GTA 6"
Windstorm: The Legend of Khiimori
This stunning open-world horse game smashed its $65,000 Kickstarter goal straight away, and it's bringing my favorite part of Red Dead Redemption 2 to 13th-century Mongolia
Robert Pattinson in Mickey 17
Parasite and Mickey 17 director Bong Joon Ho doesn't want to make a franchise film – unless it's an Alien musical
Four adventurers journey into a dim dungeon
Dark and Darker's legal battles are far from over as the popular extraction RPG has been pulled from the Epic Games Store again
Discord
Discord is reportedly "in early talks with banks" about going public, but the company won't comment on "rumours or speculation"