NetherRealm Studios

NetherRealm Studios at a Glance

NetherRealm Studios operates out of Chicago, Illinois, and has been an active developer since 2010. The company replaced WB Games Chicago after Warner Bros. purchased assets from the bankrupt Midway Games. Their portfolio on PlayPile consists of 16 titles, all developed by them rather than published by their own label. While they have a presence across many devices including PC, PlayStation, and Xbox systems, their focus remains heavily concentrated in the fighting genre. Fourteen of their sixteen games fall into this category, with the remaining four spanning adventure, hack and slash, role-playing, strategy, and sport genres. The studio released thirteen games during the 2010s and three titles in the 2020s so far. Their output shows a clear pattern centered on their long-running franchises. Most of their highest-rated work comes from the Mortal Kombat series, which holds five spots in the top ratings list. These include the original 2011 release, the Komplete Edition, Mortal Kombat X, and Mortal Kombat 11, all scoring above 80. Injustice 2 also achieved a high score of 83.6. The average rating across eight rated titles sits at 79.3 out of 100. The quality breakdown shows five great games and three good ones, with no mixed or poor reviews recorded in the current dataset. Recent activity from the studio includes Mortal Kombat 1 in September 2023, which holds a score of 79.9, and the mobile title Mortal Kombat: Onslaught later that same year. They also released downloadable content for Mortal Kombat 11 featuring The Joker and Frost characters in previous years. While their rating history is strong, the volume of releases has slowed down in the last few years compared to their output during the 2010s. Players looking at their catalog will find a consistent track record in fighting games with very few failures, though the studio has not expanded its genre diversity significantly beyond its core niche.

Release Timeline

Rating Distribution