The last Mortal Kombat did quite well in sales. And arcades mean nothing in the US anymore. The arcade is only alive in Japan.

The main problem with WB's acquisitions is that there is not much synergy between their core movie business and the game business.

most of MK's crappy sequels could be blamed on Midway's horrible management.

but back in the day MK 2 was the greatest fighter in the world.

the new one looks pretty sweet and it looks like they are getting back to their roots.

The new Mortal Kombat looks to be on point. I hope it plays good as well.

yeah, I've seen this kind of thing before and the results often yields: "holy $&*#" now what do we do with all these companies and what kind of titles do we now have to produce in order to yield profits? This was a bad move on WB's part. Most of these studios haven't produced hit selling games on the AAA market and I do mean the sales to match that status. MK was on its way out and has been in the regurgitation stage forever. Yeah so we then inject superhero's into the mix, what's next Bugs and the crew?

There's a reason why these studios where failing or on their last legs. Yes management plays into this and lord knows how many producers and Pork infest these projects now that WB is in the mix but, like so many others before WB, again this lesson will rear its ugly head. Who are these people and why are do these individuals keep showing up in game articles? What's the relevance here. Is there some awesome hit IP coming out soon from WB? They better hope they have a few hits coming with all these purchases of studios; someone has to have something worth reporting.

@Jack - um... Perhaps you're not aware of F.E.A.R., Arkham Asylum, or the entire LEGO franchise of games, but all of these have struck gold on the AAA market, and Arkham Asylum is not only still reaping accolades, but has a promising sequel in the works.
WB has realized the importance of video games in the entertainment industry, and as an entertainment company they are naturally inclined to diversify their portfolio to break into this relatively new space for them (new when compared to music, cartoons, and movies). So, as is natural for a company of WB's size, they brought on studios that they know are able to execute on quality games. It takes too long to develop a studio from scratch - much faster and cheaper to just hire people who are already working great together and producing quality results.
Now, as is wise, they are focusing on integrating their new teams into the larger scope of their company. This is exactly how the major studios all operate - including but not limited to EA and Ubisoft. By doing this, WB is better positioned than much of their competition, such as Paramount, Touchstone, and Dreamworks. I expect that this will result in a much better quality from franchise games in the WB library coming out in the future.

Mortal Kombat has a place in the hearts of any classic fighting fan. It didn't exactly rival the graphical precision of the pixel sprite Street Fighter characters, but it had an almost comical level of violence that gave the game it's own identity. Mortal Kombat was a perfect platform to meld the traditional fighting arts with mystical and supernatural powers; something unique for the time, and still unique in some ways today.

From what I've heard, that team got a pretty bum deal in the buy out, and I hope that it has been resolved by now. The game seems to be returning to it's roots now; a smart choice. It may never have the competitive precision of a Street Fighter, but sometimes a solid B action movie is better than the Summer Blockbuster. It is a matter of personal taste, and I'm sure they will find a new and old audience waiting.

Good luck guys!

Well everyone's entitled to an opinion however and yes I'm aware that the FEAR franchise at some point had its moment in the spotlight but that was a long time ago and I doubt that the titles you've just mentioned are going to pay for the majority of studios that have been acquired. Business is business and in order for studios to be lucrative, they still have to be self sustainable after they ship products or the whole model suffers overtime.

"The main problem with WB's acquisitions is that there is not much synergy between their core movie business and the game business."

Not yet anyway. However... I think it is a good thing to keep some distance between the film space and the interactive entertainment space.

I just hope that with Film Studios getting involved with Game Publishing, the pay will go up for developers.