To avoid what many consider aggressive monetization, Mortal Kombat 1 players are doing everything they can to avoid buying cosmetics in NetherRealms’ latest 2D fighter. The latest exploit involves them utilizing a console date change hack to acquire once-free character skins that are now only available if you buy them.
Read More: Mortal Kombat 1’s New Microtransactions Are Scarier Than Its Fatalities [Update]
Buy Mortal Kombat 1: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop
After launching on September 19 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, Mortal Kombat 1’s in-game story almost immediately came under fire for its pricing. The premium item shop lets players buy all kinds of stuff: cosmetics, fatalities, in-game currency, etcetera. But folks hate the expensive microtransactions, especially the seasonal ones like the gruesome Thanksgiving finishing move which costs $US10. NetherRealm has attempted to douse the criticism in good will, giving away two fatalities as part of a three-pack bundle, but people are still bothered by how much items cost to begin with. In fact, they’re so bothered, they’ve started gaming the system to buy skins for way cheaper than they are.
Mortal Kombat 1 doesn’t have battle passes, but operates on a seasonal model during which you can unlock skins for free through gameplay. However, once the season concludes, those unlockable skins are no longer available to earn, and recently many of them were added to the in-game shop. If you didn’t play during MK1’s last season, you’d now have to use Krystals, the in-game currency you can earn (slowly) or buy with IRL money to get the once-free cosmetics. But with an exploit, players are now unlocking those seasonal skins for free once more.
Twitter user iScreamFGC posted a video on November 20 showing the easily replicable Mortal Kombat 1 exploit. If you change your console’s date to before November 6 (a few days before the update that added the busted Omni-Man), reload your game, complete all the Pyramid Mesa challenges then change the date back to present day, you get to keep all the earnable items from that season.
Redditor AdmirableEstimate258 confirmed in the game’s subreddit that they said that the exploit works on Nintendo Switch, as well. Another Reddit user, ShadowMajick, also confirmed that the exploit makes the entire free section of the Spectre Season (which ended on November 9) available even after resetting their console to the present day.
One Redditor said they’re “genuinely shocked” the exploit works at all, while a tweeter thought it was simply a “funny” thing you could do. Most folks, though, believe NetherRealm Studios will eventually patch out the date-change hack and potentially even ban accounts for breaking Mortal Kombat 1’s terms of service.
Read More: Mortal Kombat 1: The Kotaku Review
Buy Mortal Kombat 1: Amazon | Best Buy | GameStop
Despite reviewing well, fans have been dragging Mortal Kombat 1 nonstop since launch. The fighting is good and crunchy, exactly what you’d expect from NetherRealm Studios. However, because the game is $US70 already, many people online can’t stand its insistence on pushing such expensive microtransactions. Maybe, after receiving enough criticism, the studio will yank them out entirely.
Leave a Reply