Gender-swapped versions of Cyrax and Sektor coming to Mortal Kombat 1 generated allegations that Netherrealm Studios' did so for reasons related to Sweet Baby Inc. and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
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Earlier this month, the Khaos Reigns expansion DLC for Mortal Kombat was revealed. Along with the return of Animalities (Fatalities where the victor turns into an animal), DLC characters include Ghostface (Scream) Noob Saibot, Conan the Barbarian (as portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger), and the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgement Day, as portrayed by Robert Patrick.
Sektor and Cyrax, cyborg characters who had previously appeared in the Mortal Kombat series, are also included in the DLC. While both already existed as Kameo characters (jumping in to assist, appearing as they first did in the franchise), the new playable versions of the characters are women instead of men.
This shouldn't be entirely a surprise, as Mortal Kombat 1 is a series reboot, changing several characters. For example, Raiden is no longer a god while Liu Kang is, and Mileena is now Kitana's sister (not just her clone).
Nonetheless, there are some questions as to Netherrealm Studios' motivations for the change. Warner Bros. Games - the publisher of Mortal Kombat 1 - is a client of Sweet Baby Inc. For those unfamiliar, they are an "inclusion-focused narrative and consultation company," reviewing and editing scripts focused on "diversity and inclusion."
Players have found recurring patterns in games they work on. This focus on DEI allegedly results in hand-fisted attempts at hip and modern writing, attempts at diversity that come across as pandering or farcical, and (despite only working on narratives) a complete aversion to having attractive female characters.
The games having poor gameplay only further drives the nail into the coffin.
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Sweet Baby Inc. have worked with many publishers, but games they admit to working on include Alan Wake II, God of War: Ragnarok, Spider-Man 2, and the infamous Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The latter became a poster-child for a DEI-focused game being terrible (despite serious gameplay issues that would have condemned it regardless).
Nonetheless, it should be noted that in Mortal Kombat 1's credits, Sweet Baby Inc. are not listed. This is despite over 50 businesses not affiliated with Warner Bros. Games being listed in the credits (over 40 marked as "outsourcers").
As such, it seems incredibly unlikely Sweet Baby Inc. wouldn't be mentioned if they had worked on Mortal Kombat 1. Regardless, some were adamant they were involved, or at the very least the game had been designed with their strained efforts at pandering and DEI in mind.
Mark Kern, former Blizzard Entertainment producer and gaming consumer advocate, was one such person. "Warner Brothers and Sweet Baby Inc. worked together. Now we have this unrecognizable mess in Mortal Kombat. Coincidence?"
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@ReignOfPride on X highlighted how the franchise, which hadn't taken itself seriously, had changed its attitude to female characters. "The fact that Mortal Kombat girls used to look like this is still insane to me."
Their post would go onto generate plenty of discussion about fan-service and modern sensibilities, the original post generating 10.2 million views, over 4,000 retweets, and over 1,000 comments (not including comments in retweets).
@Shredder8267 directly asked Ed Boon; Chief Creative Officer, Team Lead, and co-creator of Mortal Kombat, "Instead of changing our fav characters. Why could we have gotten a pink cyborg? Kind of lame to change one of my fav characters into someone idk [I don't know]."
"Dang, the game that we had congressional hearings about had given in to modern audiences...what a time to be alive," @MandoUnchained lamented.
YouTuber Cyael got straight to the heart of his issues with the game. "Genderswap, De-Sex, Sanitize for a Modern Audience. Once edgy, now stale and tired. Circle the drain and be remembered as you were Mortal Kombat. Will GTA 6 take as Concord / Saints Row Reboot an approach? 'Frat boy culture' made you. P -- y culture breaks you. Woke. Broke."
He then showcased numerous X users making similar complaints.
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If Cyael went for the jugular, then OMBU developer @HaileyEira tore Mortal Kombat 1 apart (much like its fatalities). "Oh wow, Mortal Kombat has become absolutely S-T. A franchise that was built on blood, violence, and sex has been reduced to this."
"They gender-swapped and ruined beloved characters. This is the most glaring example of forced DEI."
"The way Cyrax reveals her face just to ask, 'Where are you?' in a completely incongruous accent with her intentionally designed generic and androgynous face, is a hollow and shameless attempt to proclaim, 'Look at us everybody, we're developers who embrace diversity!'"
"It comes across as contrived and lacks authenticity. It's the cringiest, fakest s-t I've seen. You may as well throw in some alien dick in there too just to check off all the boxes for diversity," @HaileyEira ranted.
"The gameplay and character designs look trash. I'm sorry Ed, but I won't be playing this crap, and neither will my friends. Mortal Kombat used to be awesome. I played the classics with my friends a lot and watched the movies. I don'''t care if the gender swaps are because of 'alternate timelines,' this just feels ridiculous and reeks of forced diversity."
"Bring back the original characters, the hot, stunning, and captivating women, and stop cowering away from what made this franchise great."