I love this idea... but tournament players would freaking hate it, haha. I've heard a commentator say once that that a certain player became a god at speedrunning Story Mode in MKX just to get Shinnok unlocked on the tournament's console. Can't imagine how grueling it would be to have to unlock the entire Krypt to get Shang Tsung. They'd have to build in a shortcut for that case.

Yeah, that relative stuff came from the same people supposedly. Also, I think if memory serves they said Frost may have some cyber stuff to her, not Kollector, but i honestly dont fully remember. Its been too long.

Why not both? You can unlock him in game and it costs you time and effort. Or you can use irl money to instantly unlock him.

I would assume pro tournaments would have all the DLC characters available - so he'd be unlocked that way.
Also, it seems weird to me that for tournaments they didn't have all characters available, even the unlockable ones.

I could not be more hype for this. One of the best reveals yet, for me. Gonna buy the shit outta this dude.

Yep. Totally agreed.

You'd think they would. I was pretty shocked when I heard that myself. Doesn't seem like too much effort to just release fully unlocked copies of the game for competition purposes, but apparently they haven't done that yet. At least, not as of the time that particular tournament happened.

I'm really missing when MK wasn't aiming for Esports and tournaments. Same goes for all games really.

I think Shang Tsung looks like a sweet, kind-hearted grandpa. Nothing mean, deceiving and evil on his face. I prefer the white pupils as well...

The perfect disguise to lure victims in

I'm a little disappointed he's already in the game, but is also a DLC character.

NRS has slowly but surely been going further down a dark path with each new game, and I don't like it. They're actively seeking a monetization analyst right now.

http://www.netherrealm.com/careers/126/game-data-analyst-monetization/

If Shang Tsung is already in the game, he should be unlockable. Not DLC.

Agreed but NRS are moving away from unlockables. The have had fewer and fewer unlockables in every subsequent game. MKX only had one and we knew who it was before the game launched. I do not think Shang Tsung is finished though. They are just showing his render. We have not seen any gameplay of him. If I am buying the Kombat Pass then I would like to know which characters are in the Pass. They did this with MKX as well when they announced who was in the Kombat Pack before the game launched.

Well that's how it is under a for-profit, capitalist model. If today's internet technology allows for video game developers to create more and more sources of profits in addition to the base version of the game they are selling then they're going to do that. Like with most entertainment products it's probably not even the creative/development people making these decisions, it's executives on the business side of things. People who don't actually create anything but are instead there to extract as much profit as possible from the developer's creations through their ownership of those products.

Exactly this. ^

I know it's cliche to say, but complaining about it won't do anything. A lot of people will complain, but still buy it anyway. Why would they listen to your complains if you're still willing to give them your money?

These business execs making these decisions only care for the money.... so the only way to get through to them and inform them of what you're willing to accept is to "vote with your wallet", as the saying goes.

MK(2011)'s innumerous pre-order bonuses put me off pre-ordering games. And I stopped buying EA and Activition products years ago. So have a lot of other people recently and it's showing; considering those two companies keep saying their big titles aren't meeting expectations (despite still making hundreds of millions in profit).

Now that Shang Tsung is back,does that mean that Ermac is dead?

With Kronika messing around with time- it's pretty difficult to say for sure who's dead. Most would think Ermac would be considering it was hinted in MKX that Shang Tsung took all the souls that held him together in order to restore his own strength and vitality.

But that may not be true. This Shang could very well be Shang Tsung from an earlier point- maybe the same era as the young Liu Kang/Kung-Lao we see which might would mean Ermac is OK?

At the end of the day, Everyone have always used the cliché "Nobody ever really dies in Mortal Kombat" and that remains even more true now with all the various timelines and realities being introduced into the series- which makes it rather simple for anyone to come back in the future- especially popular characters like Mileena and Ermac.

Ermac is fine. He's just on vacation.

Regarding the possibility of Ermac being dead, and all those leaks from yesterday:

There was actually a post on reddit pointing out the fact that one of Shao Kahn's hammers is listed as being unlocked in the krypt via an item or location labeled as "Ermac Body" ... implying Ermac may in fact be... ya'know... a body. In the krypt. I grant you that's not definitive undeniable proof he's dead... but it's not a huge leap to think it's a decent suggestion he is.

If Ermac returns in MK11 or MK12,I hope he becomes a good guy like in Deception,because,as a villain character,he is getting lame.

Same here, I loved redemptive Ermac

Would Kenshi be the only way for him to become good in this timeline?

Good question

I am happy to see that Shang Tsung is in MK11, I really wanted him to be in MKX but that didn't happen.