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DC’s fighting game future revealed as mobile title DCKO, not Injustice 3
Developed over time first seen 4 months ago
DC has confirmed that its next fighting game will not be the long-awaited Injustice 3, unveiling instead DCKO, a mobile-only title from developer Drop Fake and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment due in 2027. The announcement clarifies where DC's fighting game efforts are currently focused, while leaving the future of NetherRealm's Injustice series, whose last instalment appeared in 2017, unresolved.
DCKO is a 2v2 tag-team fighter combining online multiplayer PvP with single-player modes, with creative director Gene Campbell saying live multiplayer between players was central to bringing the genre to mobile comic-book fighters for the first time. Its roster currently stands at 19 confirmed characters, including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Zatanna, Constantine, Blue Beetle and Katana, with further fighters to be revealed monthly. Pre-registration for an open beta is now live ahead of the game's 2027 launch on iOS and Android; it is unrelated to the similarly named "DC K.O." comic-book crossover event from the previous year, despite the shared title.
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In short
- DC's new fighting game is mobile title DCKO, not Injustice 3
- 2v2 tag fighter launches 2027 on iOS and Android, beta pre-registration open
- Injustice 3's status remains unannounced nine years after Injustice 2
How this story developed
- 4 months ago Coverage was further refined to stress that DCKO's title merely echoes last year's DC K.O. comic crossover without any confirmed link between the two, while other details, including the roster size, open beta pre-registration and 2027 iOS and Android launch, remained unchanged.
- 4 months ago The report was reaffirmed with sharper framing of DCKO's combat as online PvP paired with single-player content, while reiterating the 19-strong roster, the monthly reveal schedule and creative director Gene Campbell's emphasis on bringing live head-to-head play to mobile for the first time.
- 4 months ago DC unveiled DCKO, a mobile-only 2v2 tag-team fighter from Drop Fake and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment set for 2027, confirming that Injustice 3 is not the studio's next fighting game and leaving NetherRealm's franchise in limbo since 2017.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Mobile gaming now represents the largest gaming segment globally, and bringing fighting games to this platform with a 2v2 format designed specifically for mobile's strengths expands DC's potential audience significantly whilst lowering barriers to entry. This is a commercially rational decision that allows more casual and new players to experience DC fighting games without requiring console hardware investment, serving both DC's business interests and genuine player accessibility.
The case against
Injustice 3 has been anticipated for nearly a decade, and the fighting game community has consistently expressed its desire for a proper console successor with the competitive depth and infrastructure that defined the series. Mobile fighting games historically struggle with competitive legitimacy and predatory monetisation, and many fans view this as a cynical cash-grab abandoning the dedicated audience rather than complementing it, particularly given the nine-year gap since the last mainline title.
Explained simply
Anyone hoping for Injustice 3 has been waiting a while: NetherRealm Studios, the developer behind the Injustice series, hasn't put out a new entry since Injustice 2 launched back in May 2017. That long gap is why rumours of a third game have persisted, and why any DC fighting game news gets attention from fans of the franchise.
The game actually being announced, DCKO, comes from a different studio, Drop Fake, with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment publishing. It's a mobile-only 2v2 tag-team fighter due in 2027, built around online multiplayer as well as single-player content, and features DC characters such as Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman alongside less mainstream names like Zatanna and Constantine.
This matters because it shows where DC's fighting game resources are being directed right now, even though it leaves the question of a proper Injustice sequel unanswered. DCKO shares its name loosely with an unrelated DC Comics story event from the previous year, "DC K.O.", but the two are not connected.
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Originally published by Polygon as “New DC fighting game announced, but it’s not Injustice 3”.