MK writers have been experimenting with time for a long time.
In Mortal Kombat 1, players were offered a reimagined universe. Familiar characters have taken on different roles and images.
Recently, MK creator Ed Boon explained the approach to development:
"...In every game, we wanted the stakes to be higher, for the bosses to be more dangerous and bigger. In Mortal Kombat X, we made a jump forward in time, all the characters became 25 years older, they had children and all that...".
The idea of a reboot came about because the developers had reached a point where they simply could not imagine anything more powerful:
"[...] The main reason we did the reboot is because [the plot] got so big that we felt the only way out was to shrink it again."
