Really, now? Half of the problem with the MK franchise in the last decade, was how they tried to add new characters to the roster, who each ended up being more insulting/off-putting than the last. If it wasn't characters who basically were clones of already established characters (Jarek, Kai, Frost, etc.), it was really stupid designs that just added on more in the way of camp value than ever.
I mean, does any body really miss the likes of Bo Rai Cho, the throwing-up monk? How about Meat, who's just literally a skeleton with blood and guts? Mocap? The two random-ass brothers from Armageddon? Or how about when Noob and Smoke did their little fusion dance? Etc., etc?
No, if any franchise needed a chance to go ahead and actually do some "pruning", it was definitely MK who needed it more than SF. Get back to the point in the franchise where pretty much everybody agreed the series was good (MK2-UMK3), and re-launch from there. Then maybe this series will have a chance to recapture what it hasn't had since the dawn of the new millennium.