Before Summer Game Fest season, 2023 was already a pretty great year for video games.Resident Evil 4 Remake,Dead Space Remake, andHogwarts Legacystarted the year with a bang, and games likeStreet Fighter 6,Diablo 4, andFinal Fantasy 16were all on the horizon. NowSummer Game Fest seasonhas wrapped up, 2023 is somehow looking even better, having the potential to be one of the greatest years in gaming ever, and one of the biggest contributing factors to that could beMortal Kombat 1.
Announced only a month ago,Mortal Kombat 1is just three months away, hitting store shelves on May 30, 2025. Though September is quickly becoming one of the busiest months of the year for gaming,Mortal Kombat 1is confidently at the head of the pack, right behindStarfield. But there’s one thing that could hamperMortal Kombat 1’s release, and put it in the same boat asHogwarts Legacy.
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Mortal Kombat 1 and Hogwarts Legacy Could Have Vastly Inferior Switch Ports
BothMortal Kombat 1andHogwarts Legacyare set to receive Nintendo Switch ports later this year, and in both cases, this could end up being pretty disastrous. Following the monumental success ofHogwarts Legacyon both next-gen and previous-gen consoles, it’s only natural that Warner Bros. would want to continue the trend with a release on Nintendo Switch, but that might end up being a task of Herculean proportions.
Initially set for a July 2023 release,Hogwarts Legacy’s Nintendo Switch port has been delayed again, this time to July 10, 2025. That gives Avalanche just under five months to verify thatHogwarts Legacycan run on the vastly underpowered system, but that’s much easier said than done.Hogwarts Legacyis a massive game, with a gigantic map, a bunch of interweaving complex mechanical systems, and demanding graphics. While Avalanche managed to getHogwarts Legacyrunning on PS4 and Xbox One, it presumably took quite a bit of effort, and concessions still had to be made, such as longer loading times and inferior performance. It seems likely that to getHogwarts Legacyon the Switch, even more concessions will be made.
Mortal Kombat 1could be in exactly the same boat. In a rather surprising move, NetherRealm announced alongsideMortal Kombat 1’s initial revealthat the game would also be heading to Nintendo Switch on the exact same date as the other platforms.Mortal Kombat 11followed a similar model, releasing on the same date in the US for all platforms including the Switch, and though the port offered a surprisingly complete experience, it wasn’t without its limitations. On the Switch,Mortal Kombat 11suffered from some severe graphical limitations, and a good few performance issues, especially when playing online. WithMortal Kombat 1not even releasing on PS4 or Xbox One, its intended release for the Nintendo Switch seems pretty questionable.
It’s well known thatthe Nintendo Switch is running on extremely outdated hardware. Even when the Switch first released back in 2017 its hardware was inferior to both the PS4 and Xbox One, and six years later, this only continues to get more apparent with each new disappointing release. WhileThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdommanaged to break this trend for the most part, that’s because it’s a first-party Nintendo game solely developed for that system, with years of development poured into its optimization.Mortal Kombat 1andHogwarts Legacydon’t have that luxury.
Mortal Kombat 1will be released on June 08, 2025, for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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