There was once a time when players could get character skins for free in Mortal Kombat 1 by advancing in the game and clearing missions. However, the devs decided to monetize the game further by charging players for the skins. What followed was players finding multiple hacks to get the skins for free.
Reports suggest Mortal Kombat 1 faced severe backlash from the community after the devs added the skins that were formerly available to be earned through Season 1’s Invasions mode to its premium in-game shop. Developer NetherRealm did this after they had stated that players could wait for a season re-run in case players missed the skins.
Naturally, the fans of the game haven’t been too happy with the developer’s aggressive monetization strategy. The discontent was specifically because the game was sold at a full price of $70, and the decision to add the Invasions seasonal skins to the premium currency store was not likely to help players.
Mortal Kombat 1’s monetization strategy upsets fans
As soon as the skins were added to the store, the furious players soon uncovered that these skins could still be earned for free using an old-fashioned trick. Players have realized that the skins can be obtained by simply changing the date on the console. An X (formerly Twitter) user named ‘iScream’ shared the hack with the community that they could still earn the skins by simply changing the date on their PS5 console.
Mortal Kombat 1 launched on September 19, 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. The game immediately came under fire for its pricing and for its graphics on Nintendo. The game’s premium item shop allows players to buy all kinds of stuff such as cosmetics, fatalities, in-game currency, and more. However, fans are against the expensive microtransactions.
Notably, Mortal Kombat 1 doesn’t have battle passes, instead, it operates on a seasonal model wherein players get to unlock skins for free through gameplay. Once the season concludes, those skins are no longer available to earn. NetherRealm recently decided to monetize on these and many of them were added to the in-game shop.
This meant if a player didn’t play during MK1’s last season, they would now have to use Krystals, the in-game currency, to get the skins that were once available for free. Naturally, this infuriated the fans and the community who believed this move to be unfair.
Using the date switch Exploit you can get the Order of darkness scorpion for just going into the final Mesa (Info in the desc)
byu/AdmirableEstimate258 inMortalKombat
Experts believe it is rather unfortunate that fans have to resort to such hacks and unofficial tricks to enjoy the game. Although it is understandable that developers being on the other side of the spectrum, need to make money, however, charging players for content that was once available for free may not be the best option to do so. Some users are of the opinion that it is just “a greedy and underhanded tactic.”
Players must note, that NetherRealm Studios will likely soon patch this exploit. Additionally, players are also warned to use this trick with caution since an exploit like this to dodge paywalls could result in players being banned from Mortal Kombat 1’s online servers or from a console’s online service. That being said, it is unlikely that Mortal Kombat 1 is going to change its monetization strategy, knowing fans are upset.