Mortal Kombat 1 has been out for almost a month and players looking to test their might at the highest level now have a new goal, as NetherRealm Studios and its partners at Warner Bros. Games and RTS confirmed the return of the Pro Kompetirion tournament series.
However, the announcement may have been too last-minute and a bit lacking for many prospective challengers.
The MK1 Pro Kompetition will feature a $255,000 total prize pool and bring 20 of the world’s best players together next June to compete in the Final Kombat World Championship—the first NRS title event since Final Kombat 2020.
Everything kicks off at East Coast Throwdown on Oct. 20, giving players who weren’t planning to attend the event just three days to enter before registration closes and book travel to Connecticut. Thankfully, the ECT TOs have extended the registration date for MK1 through Oct. 13 at 11:59pm ET.
ECT is also just one of four in-person Pro Kompetition events that will be held before Final Kombat in June 2024, pairing it with Ultimate Fighting Arena in Paris on Nov. 24, Comic Con Experience in São Paulo on Nov. 30, and Combo Breaker 2024 in Chicago next spring.
What spots aren’t decided by those LAN events will be decided through MK1’s regional programs, which will pit players from the three main MK regions into online qualifier events and a Regional Final for each. That means the North American League, Interkontinental Kombat, and Liga Latina will have several online qualifier spots up for grabs as NRS continues to utilize its hybrid event format.
Final Kombat will feature a last chance qualifier for the final spot, with an open bracket for up to 256 players and a new format for the main event featuring a group stage.
The fact that there is an online element, which has been a common inclusion for FGC tournament series for better part of a decade now, has a number of players worried since MK1 has been dealing with various performance issues. This includes no current crossplay functionality and a game-breaking player one advantage bug—the latter of which NRS has patched.
There is also concern about how these online events will go about checking player connection to ensure matches won’t be impacted by anyone signing up and potentially degrading the quality of play through the use of poor Wi-Fi. NRS has noted it will provide full regional league details, rulesets, and point breakdowns soon.
Some players have also voiced that the $255,000 prize pool for the entire tournament series is not a great look for Mortal Kombat. It is just a $5,000 increase compared to the 2019 iteration of the Pro Kompetition and is dwarfed by Street Fighter 6’s $2 million Capcom Pro Tour despite MK historically selling better than the classic Japanese title.
Regardless of the complaints, most players are just excited to see NRS and its partners fully back within the MK competitive scene, which should see support for at least a few years as MK1 continues to be supported.
