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WB's lawyers will kombat leaks of any kind.

Justin Carter, Contributing Editor

January 11, 2023

1 Min Read
Logo for the Mortal Kombat franchise.

Lawyers for parent company Warner Bros. issued a DMCA takedown on Github after the recent leak of source code for Netherrealm's (formerly Midway Games) Mortal Kombat II. During the holidays, code for the 1993 fighting game released on Github via an account that's previously leaked game assets in the past.

In WB's DMCA notice, the company wrote that the source code leak infringes on the rights of "the Mortal Kombat series of video games, and all names, characters, logos and original source code."

Github complied and removed the source code, but not before players dug into it and released their findings. Among the things featured in that leaked code were animations (including a scrapped Shao Kahn fatality) and fighter moves, none of which were used in the arcade game.

Another takeaway from the leak is that the code featured unused artwork and an a different attract-mode screen that set up the game's narrative.

Source code leaks are nothing new, as recent titles such as Ubisoft's Watch Dogs Legion and EA's in-development Skate reboot have had their code leak online. On its own, this would draw the attention of game historians, but the leak hit even harder since Mortal Kombat II's 30th anniversary will be in November.

At time of writing, neither Warner Bros. or NetherRealm have made a comment regarding Mortal Kombat II's code leak. It's also unclear if this source code leak is at all tied to the recently leaked early prototype of Turtle Rock's Left 4 Dead.

About the Author(s)

Justin Carter

Contributing Editor, GameDeveloper.com

A Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don't ask him about how much gum he's had, because the answer will be more than he's willing to admit.

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