There's no definite reasoning behind it not being at E3, but as far as I can see, most of the lineup is new games and besides Soul Calibur, the other are a lot more hardcore than MK11, especially seeing as (from what I hear) they limit the variation choices. MK11 is the most successful game of them all and thats a 100% fact, but if I'm being honest, its not as interesting to watch as MK9 & MKX were cause they cut back on the create a combo system that was in those games. The other categories (other than SC6 imo) are more interesting and varied.
Now that I got to laugh like crazy... I am completely not surprised they didn't make it. What made it funny for me, is that I called this happening last year. The moment i saw that leak, about them focusing on "Esports", I knew they won't last long.
I am not sure anyone here followed MK11 Pro scene, but basically it feels like watching the same long tournament, but in a different location. Same people, same characters, same moves/combos. I lost the count of how many people posted Resident Sleeper or Zzzz in chat.
The first signs were in EVO 2019. A lot of people downplayed that, but it was a first sign, that this game wasn't going to do well. It barely attracted any people. It lost to Samurai Shodown (the game barely known outside East, compared to MK11). It even beat my expectations. I was thinking Summer Jam will be the low point, but oh boy. Nope.
This trend continued over the months. Many pro players admitted (in podcasts, their streams or youtube videos) that they got bored of playing MK11 after 2-3 months. A lot of them even added different side fighting games, to keep them occupied. Mostly Tekken. People like Reo_MK or even the golden NRS boy SonicFox.
The next tournaments over the months, were pretty much the copy paste of same shit, different color. WB kept throwing money into it. All of the ads, all the attempts to make it relevant. But they failed. MK community didn't grow. Oh no, even better. It got fractured. Now you have Lore fanatics giving a middle finger, you have people that liked older MK theme giving it a finger and you have tons of casuals that bought the game, but they don't care to invest more than few hours per week. Worst of all, you have a business plan that revolved around Esports and it has failed miserably.
If you dig deep enough, you can find a lot of reasons why MK11 couldn't make it into EVO. Could be the gore, could be controversy, could be WB execs butting their heads with EVO organizers. But one thing is for certain. One of the reasons why MK11 didn't make to EVO is because there isn't enough interest. If MK11 scrapped the bottom of the barrel at EVO 2019, while being FRESH out of the oven, how many people do you think would have showed up for this one? MK11 did absolutely nothing to make it more relevant.
Saying that MK11 is the most successful fighting game out of all of them, is like showing off your Facebook friend list. Ok. You have 3000 friends, but how many of them are actually your friends?
The most successful fighting game is Tekken 7 right now. It didn't sell as many copies as MK11, and surely didn't sell as much as MKX (the most profitable MK), but it has the strongest community, the most active players and their tournaments pay for themselves. Commentators don't have to sweat to make fights seem interesting and people watch those fights in tens of thousands. And these things matter to fighting games. MK11 failed at all of them. EVO2019 was the first and last time MK11 showed up.
I am still confused with MK11 financial status. It all my years (2 decades of gaming), I have never seen a financially successful game have so many sales. Even now. Whooping 60% sale. WTF? It hasn't even been a full year.
Long story short (I am sensing I might even go into a longer rant, so just gonna stop here). MK11 Pro scene is tiny, WB just keeps throwing money, but esports isn't making it for them and the game is relevant only with existing MK community.