Mortal Kombat fans skeptical of remaster tease featuring “terrible” AI
WB Games, Eyeballistic/Joe Tresca An image shared by the Eyeballistic CEO suggests a Mortal Kombat remaster is in the works, but the seeming use of AI art isn’t exciting fans.
Talk of classic Mortal Kombat remasters has come and gone a few times over the years. One development team even came pretty close to making such dreams come true with the fan-run MKHD project.
The crew, Eyeballistic Game Studio, appealed to MK co-creator Ed Boon to remake the original installments, then received the go-ahead from WB Games to move forward.
Eyeballistic’s website claims the publisher changed its mind over concerns the remake would have “cannibalize[d] sales” of 2019’s MK11. A new tease from the studio’s CEO, Joe Tresca, suggests hope for Mortal Kombat remasters may not be lost.
On June 21, Tresca tweeted a screenshot of a seemingly upscaled version of Mortal Kombat 2. The developer wrote in part, “…we might be cooking up something special over at Eyeballistic.”
Fans immediately noticed that Johnny Cage and Scorpion looked off in the image. “This looks fucking terrible,” one person replied.
Others pointed out that it appeared as if MK2 had been touched up by AI. Reads one such response, “This is genuinely awful sir. If you are truly using AI for this then this isn’t at all what got people excited.”
“It looks weird in so many ways. Better manual rework than AI creations,” someone else wrote in the thread.
Still, some Mortal Kombat fans responded to the remaster tease with open minds, as one user asked, “HD remaster using AI? Looks pretty cool.”
Tresca has neither confirmed nor denied the AI claims thrown his way. However, a user who said they don’t want “AI trash” in fighting games received the following replay from the developer: “I’ll take your opinion into consideration…”
At present, it’s unclear what exactly the MK2 image pertains to. It could be that WB is letting Eyeballistic revive its MKHD plans, or it could be something the team is cooking up in hopes of getting a new opportunity.