John Tobias

John Tobias is an American artist and designer best known as the co-creator of the *Mortal Kombat* video game franchise. He was born in the United States. From an early age, Tobias was drawn to comic books and began drawing, later taking weekend classes at the Art Institute of Chicago during high school. His original ambition was to become a comic book artist, but the evolving graphics technology of the video game industry, along with his mother’s practical advice about earning a living, steered him toward game design. He first worked at Midway Games, contributing art to the arcade title *Smash TV* (1990) before pitching the concept for *Mortal Kombat* to Ed Boon. Tobias crafted the series' early storyline, including the realms of Outworld and Netherrealm, and designed the entire initial character roster—figures like Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Kitana, and Goro. The character Noob Saibot is an anagram of the creators' reversed last names. In 1999, Tobias left Midway with several colleagues to found Studio Gigante, which produced *Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus* and *WWE WrestleMania 21* before closing in 2005. He later worked as a consultant and joined Zynga in 2012. Tobias returned to comics periodically, illustrating a special edition comic for *Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe* in 2008. He was also featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary *High Score*, discussing the series' controversial early reception.