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It's no secret that Mortal Kombat X is one of the biggest releases of early 2015, and the hype machine over at NetherRealm Studios is doing everything in its power to help this particular game continue the franchise's return to prominence after its excellent reboot back in 2011. Today, the developers revealed that the new installment will be also be available to download on mobile devices.

While there was once have a time when any fighting game release on a mobile device was met with outright hostility, the methods of transferring the genre's gameplay to touch-based devices has changed for the better in recent years. Rather than ineffective virtual buttons, simplified swipe-based control schemes have made for a much more enjoyable — if heavily streamlined — experience.

Mortal Kombat X will follow in the footsteps of NetherRealm's previous mobile titles; a port of Injustice: Gods Among Us in 2013, and this year's well received WWE Immortals. The studio has been refining their take on the mobile fighting game for some time now, and it seems that they are finally happy enough with the foundations to bring the newest installment of their flagship franchise to the platform.

Of course, purists will likely be better off forgoing the mobile port for the console or PC version of Mortal Kombat X, as even from the trailer it's plain to see that its gameplay won't satisfy in the same way as its bigger brothers. Seeing the instruction to 'swipe!' alongside the series' iconic command to 'finish him' will be particularly alien to anyone who memorized complex fatality inputs back in the 1990s.

However, that's not who this version of the game is for. There are plenty of people out there who played the Mortal Kombat series in arcades decades ago but have all but forgotten it, not to mention younger players who missed out on all but the franchise's mediocre entries in the 2000s. A mobile app could be the ideal way to introduce new players to Outworld and the impressive roster of Kombatants that inhabit it.

If nothing else, this mobile port provides an interesting new twist on the ongoing discussion of guest characters in Mortal Kombat X. Might we see what sort of fatality the cast of Angry Birds could come up with? Could Kim Kardashian branch out from her own mobile game to test her might? Only time will tell.

Mortal Kombat X will release on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PC on April 14. A release date for the mobile version has not yet been announced.