Finish It: Mortal Kombat X Launch Is A Bit Wonky

Update: it's now working, though still downloading in frustrating little bits. You big sillies, WB.

If you bounded down the stairs this morning keen to gruesomely murder men, you may have been disappointed. Oh no, I'm not talking about GTA V's issue (sshhh pretend you didn't read the headline or see that picture up there of two magical ninjas fighting: the joke falls apart if you already know I'm talking about Mortal Kombat). Oh no no no, this is Mortal Kombat X [official site], which has also launched with a few wonky bits.

Due to apparent issues with an unconventional downloading technique it's using on Steam, Mortal Kombat X is not playing nicely, sitting at menus or happily crashing.

The problems seem to stem from MKX using streaming downloads, where the initial download was only 3GB and it'd then download bits and pieces after you loaded it to start playing.

"As soon as the game is played for the first time, a batch of DLC content will appear in your download queue," Gary Lake-Schaal of publishers Warner Bros. explained to pre-loaders yesterday. "Check the Steam client to see the download progress on DLC items labeled Mortal Kombat X Install Pack 01 through 23." Except that's not working properly.

MKX's Steam reviews and forum are full of folks griping that no, it isn't downloading the other bits properly. Folks are finding themselves staring at menus for ages, or having the game crash when they try to play.

It's possible the game was set live earlier than planned, and when it wasn't ready for the full launch, as the Steam store page had previously said it'd unlock this evening. Whatever the cause, Mortal Kombat X on PC is not playable right now despite being on sale, so don't expect to play it for a while.