Mortal Kombat 11 is running on Unreal Engine 3, not Unreal Engine 4, the fighting game’s graphics programming lead has confirmed. There was confusion as to which engine MK11 was using, with a behind the scenes trailer of the game featuring Unreal Engine 4‘s Blueprints editor. However, programmer Jon Greenberg has confirmed that this was being used by Mortal Kombat‘s mobile team, not the developers working on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC game.
Greenberg made the reveal on Twitter, in which he responded to users attempting to edit the Mortal Kombat 11 Wikipedia page: “To whoever keeps changing the Mortal Kombat 11 Wikipedia page to claim the game uses UE4… while I appreciate the intention and while we take this as a compliment, MK11 is built on NRS’s custom UE3 version,” he tweeted. “And yes, our ver of UE3 is radically different from Epic’s at this pt.”
Greenberg noted that the game is running on a custom version of Unreal Engine 3, which has been modified by NetherRealm Studios. Calling the reasoning behind this decision “long and complicated,” Greenberg stated that NetherRealm wanted to immediately commence work on MK11 after it had finished with Injustice 2, and that working in Unreal Engine 4 would have required the team to rebuild “years and years worth of stuff.”
Responding to a follower who pointed out the Blueprints editor appearing in an MK11 trailer, Greenberg replied: “Mobile is using UE4, and footage got mixed in. We’re all in the same building, and in some cases, some folks end up working on both.”
Greenberg also confirmed that the Nintendo Switch version of the game would also run on the modified Unreal Engine 3, though this version of the game is being worked on by Shiver, not NetherRealm Studios. NetherRealm will handle the PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions of the game.
