NetherRealm Studios (stylized as NetheЯRealm Studios) is an American

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

based in Chicago and owned by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Led by video game industry veteran and ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...

'' co-creator Ed Boon, the studio is in charge of developing the ''

'' and '' Injustice'' series of

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...

History

On February 12, 2009,

Midway Games Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (series), Rampage'' ...

filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

in the United States. Warner Bros. subsequently acquired "substantially all of the assets", including ''Mortal Kombat'', ''

This Is Vegas ''This Is Vegas'' is a cancelled action-adventure video game that was in development at Surreal Software and was to be published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on Microsoft Windows, the PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360. In 2010 developm ...

'' and the Midway Games company structure, on July 10, 2009. While Warner Bros. went on to close most of Midway Games' Chicago headquarters and San Diego, California and Liverpool, England, development studios, they retained the Midway Games Chicago development studio, which became part of Interactive Entertainment. The remaining studio was renamed WB Games Chicago several days later. On April 20, 2010, the studio was reincorporated as NetherRealm Studios, replacing WB Games Chicago. NetherRealm Studios' first game, was the ninth installment in the ''Mortal Kombat'' series, the title was released in April 2011. Their first game original intellectual property, '' Injustice: Gods Among Us'', based on the DC Universe, was released in 2013. The success of the two games allowed the development of respective sequels; '' Mortal Kombat X'' in 2015 and'' Injustice 2'' in 2017. Also, NetherRealm developed

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

and iOS versions for '' Batman: Arkham City Lockdown'', '' Batman: Arkham Origins'', and '' WWE Immortals''. The company's latest release, '' Mortal Kombat 11'', was released on April 23, 2019. On October 18, 2022, NetherRealm announced that, they are working on Mortal Kombat: Onslaught. It's a cinematic collection role-playing mobile game and will be released in 2023.

Games developed

Controversies

Shortly after the launch of ''Mortal Kombat 11'', several independent declarations from former employees came through about the studio's alleged practices and general working conditions during the development of their last four games, in what they described as a toxic workplace with common instances of gender discrimination, as well as severe crunch time. In May 2019, NetherRealm released a statement saying "At NetherRealm Studios, we greatly appreciate and respect all of our employees and prioritize creating a positive work experience. As an equal opportunity employer, we encourage diversity and constantly take steps to reduce crunch time for our employees. We are actively looking into all allegations, as we take these matters very seriously and are always working to improve our company environment. There are confidential ways for employees to raise any concerns or issues." Following the statement, NetherRealm gave the studio the weekend off. The same month, another article by

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

reported on the mental toll the developers were taking on by developing such excessively violent video games—one developer detailed stories about how the team would view pictures and videos of murders or animal slaughter as reference material, which would cause nightmares and eventual insomnia, with a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.

References

External links

* {{Warner Bros. Companies based in Chicago Mortal Kombat American companies established in 2010 Video game companies established in 2010 Video game companies of the United States Video game development companies Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment 2010 establishments in Illinois