That's not a good justification/reasoning. People will buy garbage, if it is shiny enough. We have people buying an expensive phone every year with insane price tag, just because the number on it is higher, than the previous one from the last year. Even though the new phone doesn't bring anything to justify its price tag.
What
@Commander is saying (and feel free to correct me, if I am wrong)
Is what I am also thinking. JUST CAUSE you can get away with selling same shit over and over again, doesn't mean you should.
And I am not even bringing moral/ethical reasons here. I am talking about the longevity/quality of the thing you're selling and how the mentality of "lazy, but smart" is destroying it in the long run.
Let's analyze the sentence "Damn they sell things, that people love to buy?!"
They sell the same two characters, every damn time (actually Scorpion now being the only one in the front). Why? Obviously, cause it is safe. These characters are popular, simple, they have contradicting powers and it matches the the theme of the game.
Wait... do they really?
The game is about a Mortal Kombat tournament. Martial Arts tournament. So these two guys compete in it and represent the fighting part. And their contrasting colors represent opposing sides. Ok. That checks out.
So the game must be about them. Oh wait. It ain't. They are a SUB PLOT, that is SELF CONTAINED too. Not even a main one. Main characters of the franchise can be pretty much considered Liu Kang and Raiden. They have the most screen time and the main plot most of the time revolves around at least one of them.
So, let me get this straight. Outside of the game, you sell me covers of Scorpion/Sub Zero, but in the game the characters I am supposed to be rooting for, are Raiden and Liu Kang? Excuse me, but what the fuck?
Scorpion was also already prominently marketed in MKX (With Sub Zero being secondary) and his role in MKX was... screwing things up and then never being seen again?
MK11 Cover is just Scorpion. What does he do in the story? One version of him dies to B tier villain in the most pathetic way, while the younger version is last seen smacking some robots on the ship and is never seen again for the final fight. And he is sold on the cover. It's like putting Dr. Kleiner or Barney on a cover for Half Life 2. These guys play a pretty big role, but you play as a freaking Gordon Freeman, man. So basically you're selling me a character, that has nothing to do with the main plot. The only reason, he is on the front cover, is because certain imbecile has a hard on for him.
And the game has 30 years of characters too. Sonya Blade, Kung Lao, Reptile, etc.
Why not sell figurines of them? Why not sell merch with them? The UP TO DATE merch that is. Why not put them on the cover as well? Mortal Kombat is the only franchise in fighting games, that sells you a character on the cover, that has barely anything to do with the main plot and isn't even a main character.
Failure in the most basic marketing.
They are not selling what people want, but what THEY want people to buy. How many other characters have their fans? Character's popularity solely depends on the creator. They could sell other characters too, but they don't, cause they don't wanna. Why bother? Sub Zero and Scorpion is selling fine as it is. Why invest time in making anything else? Sure there are definitely fans of other characters, but... eh. They are just going with "lazy, but smart" route. Minimum effort, for maximum profit.
Logically that makes sense. Why bother putting effort in making anything else shine, if you can just sell same shit, with different paint job every time?
Well... that affects the value of the thing you're selling. If you're presenting the game with such mentality, sooner of later people get bored of it and because you haven't invested any time in building anything else, you find yourself at the loss, which just makes you sell same shit even harder, until shit fails and you blame everyone for that and rage quit. Every single time.
MK could be so much more, but NRS is selling everything on Brand recognition now. And has been like that for years now. They don't care about the lore, world building, quality or giving proper content. It is just about milking the franchise dry, while making it look pretty.
MK11 was the laziest game so far. And it worked for them.
So... why should they bother to add more? Why would they bother to innovate? They just got rewarded, for selling you semi mobile game with multiple currencies, in game shop and Krypt that operates as a Loot Box simulator. If that sold well, then might as well double down on entire thing.
And why they are throwing all these tiny bullshit teasers, building the hype, instead of just dropping the trailer for the game already? In the past, they would just throw you a cinematic trailer or start strong with gameplay. But now we got 2 teasers showing a sand grain and a clock. Both can be done quickly.
My bet? They are doing what a lot of shitty AAA games have been doing lately. They hype you up with cinematic trailers/teasers, so once the gameplay comes out, it doesn't hit as hard, once you see what the game itself is nothing special. If MK12 reveals a live service game with extreme monetization and cut content, then you will get to see what happens, when people try to be smartasses, by doing bare minimum.
Just cause shit sells, doesn't mean you shouldn't put effort in making something great and expand on it. Sooner or later someone will catch up and you will be left behind, cause your entire shtick was based on a hope, that nobody else will want to innovate and grow.
I will be legitimately shocked if MK12 will have anything special aside visual upgrade.
