Drop Fake, a new independent studio led by developers behind one of the most successful mobile fighting games ever made, has announced DCKO, a free-to-play mobile fighter built around 2v2 tag battles between DC Super Heroes and DC Super-Villains. Officially licensed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on behalf of DC, the game is coming to Android and iOS in 2027, and pre-registering at playdcko.com gets you access to an upcoming beta.
Combat is built on tap-and-swipe inputs designed to click within your first minute, with taps for quick jabs, swipes for medium attacks, and upward swipes for heavy grabs, before opening up into launchers, juggles, and player-built combos. One combat engine drives every fight, whether you’re facing a live opponent or working through the campaign, and banking your meter across a round unlocks a screen-filling Super. Since every match features a duo, you can call your benched Legend in for assists, attack together with a Combo Tag, or chain both Supers into a Super Tag.
The big differentiator, according to Drop Fake, is real-time PvP against actual live opponents rather than AI stand-ins or cached teams running on autopilot, which the studio says is a first for DC mobile fighting games. Creative director Gene Campbell says the team wanted DCKO to represent “a significant leap forward for the fighting game genre on mobile,” calling live multiplayer core to the spirit of fighting games. Campbell also said Drop Fake wants to nurture a healthy competitive scene, with more details on that front to come, and confirmed the game launches next year. Quick matches and global leaderboards are included, with wins unlocking new abilities and stat boosts for your Legends.
On the solo side, the Stories mode throws your Legends against Ra’s al Ghul’s League of Assassins, Amazo’s robot army, and the demon hordes of Trigon, part of a PvE lineup that also includes Seasonal Missions, Rifts, and the Arena. Currency and XP earned in PvE carry over to prepare your team for PvP. The launch lineup features over 20 Legends, including Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Constantine, Harley Quinn, and Nightwing, with a new Legend joining every month. Each one can be leveled up, tuned with abilities and stat boosts, and customized with swappable Supers and costume variants that can be earned or purchased, calling back through decades of DC history.
Battles play out across arenas like Themyscira, the Batcave, the Fortress of Solitude, and the Lazarus Pits, rendered in what Drop Fake calls a “Neo-Comic” art style with bold inks and dynamic super move animations. The studio says deeper mode breakdowns and monthly Legend reveals are on the way ahead of the 2027 launch, and it’s building the game in the open on Discord as development continues.
