NetherRealm Studios

NetherRealm Studios is a game development studio based in Chicago, Illinois (USA). It is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

Before becoming NetherRealm, it was known as Midway Chicago, Midway Games' original development studio that developed all their arcade games. Later, it focused solely on games for home and portable consoles, with titles such as Blitz: The League (2005), Stranglehold (2007) and Game Party (2007). It was based in the same facility as Midway Amusement Games and just across the street of the main Midway office.

On 12 February 2009, Midway filed for bankruptcy and on 1 July 2009, most of the game assets, including the Midway studio, were sold to Warner Bros. Shortly after, the studio was renamed WB Games Chicago. Almost everyone not involved with the Mortal Kombat franchise was laid off, including the team that had been working on the Hero open-world superhero game since 2006. Chip Sineni was one of those employees and he went on to found Phosphor Games in 2009, to continue the project building it up again from scratch and he took along many former Midway Chicago members.

In June 2010, the division was renamed NetherRealm Studios, after the NeatherRealm universe where the Mortal Kombat series is set. It is also led by the series co-creator Ed Boon. The first NetherRealm title was Mortal Kombat in April 2011, as a reboot of the series. The company would expand the franchise with Mortal Kombat X (2015), Mortal Kombat 11 (2019) and yet another reboot with Mortal Kombat 1 (2023).

A second title, Batman: Arkham City Lockdown for iOS, was released in December 2011. In June 2012, a third title was revealed, the fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us. It was released in April 2013.