Facing up to a possible $240 million in debt as it undergoes Chapter 11 restructuring, one possible avenue for Midway is the sale of its Mortal Kombat IP -- but the publisher would prefer not to go that route.
Although recently-released legal documents identify the possible sale of the franchise as a "milestone" for which execs can earn bonuses, "It’s not our goal to sell Mortal Kombat," according to Midway spokesperson Geoff Mogilner.
"It is something that, in the world of scenarios, it is something that could happen here," Mogilner said, speaking to the MTV Multiplayer weblog. "But it’s not something that we as a company are going for."
"There are conversations for certain," Mogilner said, although he declined to specify which publishers are interested in the long-established fighting franchise. "There’s definitely interest in Mortal Kombat. I’m not going to lie about that."
According to Multiplayer's report, Midway is working on a new Mortal Kombat game and continues to work on a new game engine. "We keep working," Mogilner concluded.
Midway games started with arcade hits like Space Invaders and Rampage, and continued to make famous games from there, such as Mortal Kombat. To lose them would be the death of a legend, regardless of the quality of recent releases. I hope it works out for them.
Midway only had the distribution rights for Space Invaders in the US, the game itself was from Taito, they don't own these rights today. More interesting is, that Midway owns many, if not all of the rights to the Atari Coin Ops and the Williams Titles, I fear the rights to these games could be scattered around in the whole industry.
Midway only had the distribution rights for Space Invaders in the US, the game itself was from Taito, they don't own these rights today. More interesting is, that Midway owns many, if not all of the rights to the Atari Coin Ops and the Williams Titles, I fear the rights to these games could be scattered around in the whole industry.