Midway Selling Mortal Kombat

[Maxx]

UK, March 2, 2009 - Midway is selling off the Mortal Kombat franchise, ending a long-running association with the series as it tries to save itself from financial meltdown.

Having debuted in 1992 with the seminal arcade hit, the franchise spawned some 17 games during its time under Midway, the most recent of which, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, launched to a generally warm response towards the end of last year.

Midway filed for bankruptcy last month, and recently handed publishing duties for forthcoming title The Wheelman over to Ubisoft. Now Mortal Kombat is being put out to tender, with the successful sale of the franchise imperative to rescuing the Chicago based developer – as well as acting as a milestone that would tie in with significant bonus payouts for "officers, management-level employees and other non-insider key employees," as reported on netDockets.

These bonus payouts – amounting to some $3,755,000 – would come against the backdrop of laid off staff having promised monies withheld, as reported by Kotaku.

Any potential home for the Mortal Kombat series remains a source for speculation.

Well, it was bound to happen, I was honestly suprised the entire company wasn't just bought out by a larger company. Now lets discuss who'd be like to see get a hold of the franchise.

Obviously, Capcom buying the franchise and making Street Fighter Vs Mortal Kombat would be pretty epic. I'd hate to see Sony or Microsoft get a hold of it, as MK should always be multiplatform.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Super bummer.. I didn't even know Midway was in the state they're in. Shit sucks, but yeah. SF vs. MK would be badass.

It's unrealistic, but I'd love to see a fighting game that's something like Marvel vs. MK vs. DC vs. SF vs. Capcom. >_>

[zero]

It's a sad state of affairs, but the writing's been on the wall for Midway for awhile now and this pretty much confirms the Midway as we know it is done for. They'll either be bought or go the way of Acclaim, but there's no way they're getting out of this $200 million+ debt. They're definitely not going to get anywhere without the one massive franchise they still had.

I'd like to see Capcom grab the franchise so we can finally get the game we all dreamed of as ten year olds, but I doubt they have the funds right now to compete with the more likely candidates of EA and Activision. I'll also go ahead and put my money on Activision since it's a franchise they can "exploit" on a yearly basis. Can't wait until Kentucky Fried Chicken comes up with the Fried Fatality Combo Meal!

[Reddaye]

Any Mortal Kombat without Ed Boon at the helm is a recipe for disaster. I can't imagine anyone else heading up a MK game's development.

[zero]

I would assume (but I'm probably wrong) that if MK goes, Boon goes with it. Although honestly, I would like to see someone else take a shot at the stale franchise.

Edited March 2, 2009 by Zero

[Reddaye]

How dare you call Mortal Kombat stale! How dare you!

All we need is Capcom or some other Japanese company turning MK into some sissy anime fighting series with cat people and girls with rabbit ears.

Hopefully the series finds a good home. I'd like to see another Shaolin Monks type action adventure game.

[zero]

All we need is Capcom or some other Japanese company turning MK into some sissy anime fighting series with cat people and girls with rabbit ears.

Because that's exactly what they did to Street Fighter 4.

Anyway, yes MK is stale. Deadly Alliance and Deception were above average games and the only shining spots for the series since Mortal Kombat 3... and that's being generous since that's when it started getting pretty ridiculous. Armageddon was very meh and vs. DC was a fun gimmick, but it's not exactly freshening up the series.

[Cactus Drags]

End of an era! Probably for the best though, it sucks what's happening to Midway, because they put out some decent stuff (aren't they responsible for the Blitz the League games?). I think I read they were in legal trouble as well over some dodgy takeover bid.

[Reddaye]

Because that's exactly what they did to Street Fighter 4.

Anyway, yes MK is stale. Deadly Alliance and Deception were above average games and the only shining spots for the series since Mortal Kombat 3... and that's being generous since that's when it started getting pretty ridiculous. Armageddon was very meh and vs. DC was a fun gimmick, but it's not exactly freshening up the series.

Both are counts of sarcasm on my part, guess it doesn't translate well, even with emoticons.

I very much agree that MK is stale. Let's face it: the only thing that made Mortal Kombat stand out early on was the blood and violence. Now practically every game feature copious amounts of gore. The fighting system has always been simplistic, especially when compared to Street Fighter 2, and the various Capcom Vs. games (X-Men, Marvel, SNK, etc).

Hard to make a silk purse out of a sow's ass.

[apsham]

MOOOOOOOOORTAL KOOOOOOOOOOOOOMBAT!

[GhostMachine]

No Boon on MK might actually mean no more fucking cheap ass bosses.....

[apsham]

*TECHO MUSIC*

[(həd)]

End of an era! Probably for the best though, it sucks what's happening to Midway, because they put out some decent stuff (aren't they responsible for the Blitz the League games?). I think I read they were in legal trouble as well over some dodgy takeover bid.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo........

Midway needs to stay afloat just so I can get another Blitz: The League game! Fuck.

[GhostMachine]

End of an era! Probably for the best though, it sucks what's happening to Midway, because they put out some decent stuff (aren't they responsible for the Blitz the League games?). I think I read they were in legal trouble as well over some dodgy takeover bid.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo........

Midway needs to stay afloat just so I can get another Blitz: The League game! Fuck.

Does the XBox 360 Blitz: the League game have the same cheap, shitty, cheating AI that the PS2 game had? (Seriously; the PS2 game is the only game I've ever traded in for store credit where I actually had to restrain myself from destroying the disk instead)

Edited March 10, 2009 by GhostMachine

[Cactus Drags]

As far as I'm aware it's an entirely different game. There is a cheap element at times, I recommend never throwing the ball when you're more than 14 points up as it WILL be intercepted, but both games have been really enjoyable for me, I love the storyline element, and it's very good graphically too.

[GhostMachine]

As far as I'm aware it's an entirely different game. There is a cheap element at times, I recommend never throwing the ball when you're more than 14 points up as it WILL be intercepted, but both games have been really enjoyable for me, I love the storyline element, and it's very good graphically too.

I would have liked the PS2 game if not for the cheap stuff. I had one game I couldn't win because the AI would do crap it shouldn't be able to do. I had to beat....the Albany team, I think? to advance, and lost 3 tries, then finally thought I had a win secured, only for it to run back a kickoff for a TD at the last second - something that there was no way in hell it should have been able to do - and had the runner so far ahead he did the turn around a wave while going into the end zone taunt. That, my friend, was the proverbial last straw.

Other than the cheap stuff and the slow even for a PS2 loading times, I actually liked the game, but couldn't bring myself to try to beat that team again or start the game over. Next time I picked it up was to go trade it in for store credit. If I want to dish out pain in football games, I'll stick to playing Madden and using Ouch! cards, thank you very much.

I generally avoid Midway games because they tend to put cheap stuff in their games that other companies usually have the good sense to leave out, and I'm guessing I'm not the only one who feels that way about Midway. (Though if I had a next gen system I'd definitely have MK vs. DC already) I got fed up with Mortal Kombat because Moloch in Deadly Alliance is super cheap (I could pretty much rape him using Johnny Cage with the nunchucks and could beat him with Scorpion or the blind guy using the swords, but had a tough time using anyone else against him), and the more complex combos are fucking hard to pull off with a PS2 type controller. (Same for Tekken, but I'm better and using Tekken characters with a Dualshock than I am at using MK chraracters, though I'm practically crippled at using King with a Dualshock, and I'm a machine at using King in the arcades)

[The Kraig]

I'd love to see Marvel pick it up, just because that was what I really wanted instead of DC vs MK. And Marvel's past work with Capcom could see a ultra MK/SF/Marvel/SNK/etc clusterfuck game. Not to mention MK comics by Marvel...sexy.

[Scott McFly]

It's been mentioned, but Capcom should totally buy Midway and give us Street Fighter vs Mortal Kombat. And a sequel to Psi-Ops too.

Edited March 12, 2009 by Scott McFly