Killer Instinct was a surprisingly good fighting game with a clever free-to-play design that actually made the game better with rotating free characters. Something that led to people facing new opponents online, rather than just facing the same characters over and over. Oh, and it had a rock solid and base heavy soundtrack designed by Mick Gordon (Doom, Doom Eternal).
It became a fairly big hit, was included in the EVO tournament and had a couple of nice guest appearances from the Arbiter (Halo 2), Rash (Battletoads) and General RAAM (Gears of War). But despite this, it seems like Microsoft totally forgot about it and hasn't said anything regarding a sequel and the final season was launched in 2016.
According to a recent interview with the developer Iron Galaxy Studios over at SegmentNext, it seems like they wouldn't rule out making a proper sequel if there was an opportunity to do so. Here's what the general manager Shekhar Dhupelia said:
"We loved working on Killer Instinct, and we had a great time supporting that community. They still ask us to update that experience every day on social media and we really appreciate the enduring enthusiasm. Like any other opportunity that comes our way, if KI ever presented itself again, we'd consider it."
They are currently working on a new IP for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X, which they say they'll tell us more about this year. Let's hope the Xbox head honcho Phil Spencer reads the interview, is reminded about Killer Instinct and calls Iron Galaxy Studios so we can get our Killer Instinct 2...