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‘Mortal Kombat’ Finishes The NPD Charts Competition For April
Not only did Netherrealm’s Mortal Kombat 11 beat out Days Gone for top spot on the PlayStation 4 digital sales chart, the fighter also staked the number one spot on the NPD Group sales charts for the month of April.
True, Bend Studios’ Days Gone is a PS4 exclusive, but you can’t ignore the fact that Mortal Kombat 11 was the highest-selling game of the month on every single platform that it released for (PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch), and is the first third-party game to lead sales for the Switch since 2017.
Furthermore, Mortal Kombat 11 is now the second best-selling game of the year, trailing only Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts III.
All that being said, Days Gone wasn’t slouching, as it took second place on the charts (compared to the UK, where it grabbed the top spot). Activision’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice still hung around the top 10, grabbing the seventh spot. Riding on the upcoming Borderlands 3 hype, Gearbox’s Borderlands remaster landed in 20th place.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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