Ed Boon Teased Mortal Kombat 1 Reveal One Day Before Announcement

Ed Boon signalled on 17 May 2023 that NetherRealm Studios was about to reveal its next Mortal Kombat game.

The series co-creator initially posted the words “THIS WEEK SHOULD BE FUN” vertically on social media, accompanied by a Mortal Kombat dragon emoji. The unusual arrangement encouraged fans to search for another hidden message.

T
H
I
S

W
E
E
K

SHOULD BE FUN 🐉

— Ed Boon (@noobde) May 17, 2023

Some interpreted the text as an L-shaped clock hand, continuing the time imagery used throughout NetherRealm’s pre-reveal campaign. Others treated it as a simpler promise that the long-awaited announcement would arrive before the end of the week.

The timing was no longer ambiguous by the end of the day. Boon followed the message with a short video carrying the line “Tomorrow is a new dawn” and displaying 18 May 2023 at 6am PT. The post confirmed exactly when NetherRealm’s reveal would begin.

I think the first post worked more as a final piece of audience engagement than a genuine puzzle. NetherRealm had already provided clearer clues through its Hourglass footage, clock teaser and the date shown in Boon’s follow-up video.

The promotional sequence had started with a grain of sand exploding inside Kronika’s Hourglass. That imagery suggested the destruction and recreation of Mortal Kombat’s established timeline.

NetherRealm then released an earlier clock teaser in which the hand moved through nine, ten and eleven before skipping 12 and stopping at one. The sequence strongly indicated that the game would be titled Mortal Kombat 1 rather than Mortal Kombat 12.

A major Mortal Kombat 1 leak provided further context on 11 May. Billbil-kun reported the title, platforms and editions, while Windows Central connected Peacemaker and Homelander with the planned downloadable roster.

Boon’s posts on 17 May therefore represented the final step in an escalating campaign:

• the Hourglass established the timeline theme;
• a clock skipping 12 pointed towards the Mortal Kombat 1 name;
• the leak exposed several commercial details;
• Boon’s “new dawn” video confirmed the reveal date and time.

Warner Bros. Games officially revealed Mortal Kombat 1 on 18 May 2023. The cinematic trailer introduced Liu Kang’s New Era, confirmed eight characters and set a 19 September release date for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and Windows PC.

The title confirmed what NetherRealm’s clock imagery had suggested. Rather than continuing under the expected Mortal Kombat 12 name, the game began a reimagined universe created by Fire God Liu Kang.

Boon’s “THIS WEEK SHOULD BE FUN” message was vague in isolation. Combined with the timed “new dawn” video published later that day, it became the final social media signal before NetherRealm presented Mortal Kombat 1 publicly.