This was not the DC Comics fighting game news I was hoping to write up today. DC announced DCKO, a new free-to-play fighting game set in the company’s shared comic book universe…and it’s for mobile devices…and it’s not Injustice 3. Pain.
Okay, let’s not be too immediately dismissive. DCKO is a free-to-play tag fighter from new team Drop Fake, and it has a pretty solid roster of fighters already. Yeah, there’s Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, but I would like to at least give some appreciation to the dev team for also including my bisexual warlock king John Constantine, who is tragically missing from the rosters of Injustice: Gods Among Us and Injustice 2. Given this is a tag fighter, I’m gonna cross all my fingers in hopes that the team adds Green Arrow; that way, I’ll have my two favorite DC characters in one game to use as a pair.
Still, while I don’t want to write the game off, mobile is hardly an ideal place for a fighting game to get off the ground. Tapping and swiping on a screen doesn’t compare to using a controller or fight stick, especially in a genre where most players prefer precise inputs. My kneejerk reaction is to assume that this isn’t meant to target the fighting game community and is more concerned with getting casual players who want something DC-themed on their phones to jump in. For now, interested fans can pre-register ahead of the game’s 2027 launch.
I’m conflicted because part of me just hopes this comes to consoles and PC down the line, but the other would rather NetherRealm put out another Injustice game so I can pick up Green Arrow’s bow and start schooling fools again. It’s been almost a decade since Injustice 2 launched in 2017, and NetherRealm has only made Mortal Kombat games since. Though there’s been no official announcement of the studio heading back to the DC universe, rumors have been swirling around for years that a third Injustice is on the way. I sure hope so; otherwise the knowledge that the only new DC fighter is going to be sequestered to phones and tablets is gonna sting for a bit. I’m not sure who’s suffering more, though: Injustice fans, or the DC diehards in the YouTube comments who thought this was going to be a Marvel Rivals competitor.