Mortal Kombat Team Looking To Split From Midway

Mortal Kombat X

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posted04/07/2009 03:04 AM (UTC)by

dracine

@dracine

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08/27/2006 10:33 PM (UTC)

Midway's team of developers responsible for the 17-year-old Mortal Kombat franchise is currently in active talks with other publishers to leave the company and for its own studio, sources tell Kotaku.

The MK team, which comprises about 50 developers, is said to be in discussions with a handful of unnamed publishers, with senior members of the group handling negotiations for a possible exodus from Midway. According to Midway sources who wished to remain anonymous, one of the catalysts for the move is a lack of payment in bonuses due to MK team members based on meeting Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe sales targets.

Sources said that the Mortal Kombat team has become increasingly "frustrated" with the handling of Midway's bankruptcy filing. MK staffers also expressed irritation from being in the position of delivering million unit-selling titles on time and on a bi-annual schedule while other projects at the company languish in development.

Midway representatives, when contacted for comment, opted not to discuss the Mortal Kombat team's plans, saying that the team was in "good shape." They did, however, want to stress that Midway itself is not withholding any owed payment to the Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe developers.

"Midway is not refusing to pay out those bonuses," PR reps told us. "It's the unsecured creditors committee that is refusing to allow us to pay them. They're the ones holding that up."

If the MK team—who are apparently not under contract at Midway—does find a new studio to call home at a publisher other than Midway, the fighting game franchise may not go with them. That, as well as having to abandon work on the follow-up to MK vs. DC, tentatively titled Mortal Kombat 9, was going to be "tough."

Should the key Mortal Kombat talent leave, it could be a substantial blow to the ailing Midway, which has already closed and consolidated many of its in-house development teams.

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/X4n12UoVXPU/mortal-kombat-team-looking-to-split-from-midway

jpetrunak

@jpetrunak

•04/03/2009 10:05 PM (UTC) •

God I just hope this doesn't mean Mortal Kombat will end as a result of the team leaving. Surely since Midway will still continue to operate, they will continue to make MK games .........

I just hope this doesn't mean a delay for MK9

insidious_t

@insidious_t

About Me

"I will not hide my tastes or aversions...If you are true, but not in the same truth with me, cleave to your companions; I will seek my own." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

•04/03/2009 10:41 PM (UTC) •

as long as mk survives, with ed boon at the helm, wherever they go can only be good, preferrably with an american developer.

jpetrunak

@jpetrunak

•04/03/2009 10:47 PM (UTC) •

well "senior members" of the MK team negotiating, most likley means Boon is going too ..........

kingjolly

@kingjolly

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•04/03/2009 11:09 PM (UTC) •

Very interesting news.

If Ed Boon and his team leave, the might not have the rights to the MK license anymore. It would be nice if Midway would just give the IP to them, but they would probably sell it off to the highest bidding publisher in order to make $ before they eventually die.

Best of luck Midway & Ed Boon. This must be a pretty rough time for you guys. I hope it ends well.

I personally want Ed Boon to leave Midway, start his own studio and make mk games. If not, just form a new fighting game series based on mk principles, but that would mean no more scorpion and sub-zero :(

BIG_SYKE19

@BIG_SYKE19

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•04/04/2009 12:04 AM (UTC) •

we might not get mk9 this time?!!

scorpion11

@scorpion11

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MK vs DC = Shitiest MK Game Ever! Special Forces is a 10/10 in comparison! Jesus Christ you this site is lame as hell with all the injustice pimping.....

•04/04/2009 01:14 AM (UTC) •

This is just great.

The way things are going, the giant steaming pile of s**t (otherwise known as MKvsDc) will probably be the last MK game. Thanks ED!

Sub_ZER0

@Sub_ZER0

•04/04/2009 03:45 AM (UTC) •

Wow...am I the only one who thinks this is a positive?

If Midway finally dissolves, the MK Team can just buy the franchise and not have to bang out games every year now.

We can get a FINISHED GAME..how sweet is that?

humansmoke44

@humansmoke44

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•04/04/2009 08:12 AM (UTC) •

Sub_ZER0 Wrote:
Wow...am I the only one who thinks this is a positive?

If Midway finally dissolves, the MK Team can just buy the franchise and not have to bang out games every year now.

We can get a FINISHED GAME..how sweet is that?

That's the absolute best case scenario though. If somehow MK got sold to a publisher, and that publisher picked up the MK team - that would be remarkable in itself. But chances are the MK team's being slammed with another bull shit deadline for MK9, and they just learned that their compensation is down the toilet, so the last thing anybody on the team cares about is Mortal Kombat. Hell I'd be pissed at anything associated with Midway at the moment if I were on the team. And after the MK team leaves, Midway's gonna try to pull a Wheelman with MK9, but finishing development of the game with a new team is gonna be too much of a headache for any publisher and MK9 will sink slowly with Midway. The name has a chance to be sold though, and maybe a new MK (not the MK9 being developed) will emerge in 3 to 4 years.

lastfighter89

@lastfighter89

•04/05/2009 08:38 AM (UTC) •

for verybody...use your brain!!!!

1)Kotaku is not a reliabe source,so believe in this story only when it happens
2)Ed Boon & Co. will NEVER leave Midway because they can't handle the new technologies,in fact the graphics of MK vs DCU were hadnled by the Austin team which gets fired.If Ed leaves Midway he wll end jobness:no other software house would hire him just for nostaglia or respect.
3)actually i don't know about legal issues about Ed and Midway so yeah they wouold find an agreement.Nobody xcept of Boon and his core team can work on MK.If Midway will continue MK by his own we get two scenarios,both aren't quite favorable
A)the next MK is not good at all cause the Boon touch is gone,so yeah xpct another MKSpecial Forces
B)MK ends right here.

if someone is going to give some answers to us he will surely react immediatly:why in the hell should the next MK be sold in three-four years?
For what i know also UNIFINISHED games like MK vs DCU,MK Armageddon and Deception sold over a million and thus far the only thing important in the idustry business is making money.
Until MK sells well(1,8 million copies is a good result) we're going to have a mk every year.
considering that the "magic moment" of mk is gone for good all we'll have will be games ful of nostalgia that invanely try to resurrect a dying franchise.
But,IMO,it's not a terrible thing:instead of waiting 4 years we have to wait just 1.
Actually Mk doesn't sell well out of the MK fanbase...but it equally reaches the million copies sold.In other words i like the way the thing are coming:a game very year,don't believe in time issues because Deception had the same time of development as Armageddon bu the replay vaue is totally different.

MK9 just needs to be a mature,redefinied and improved version of MK vs DCU without free fall kombat,improved klose kombat and a story mode similar to the deception's konquest mode.

humansmoke44

@humansmoke44

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•04/07/2009 03:04 AM (UTC) •

lastfighter89 Wrote:
why in the hell should the next MK be sold in three-four years?

"Furthermore, there are those who have reportedly become irritated at delivering million-unit selling games on time and on a schedule that runs bi-annually as other projects from the company 'languish in development.' "

Clearly the MK team doesn't appreciate it's deadlines; and thus one reason they want to leave Midway. The MK team also doesn't consider their games "unfinished" by comparison.

If the team walks anytime soon, Midway will have no way to finish development of MK9. Speculation is that it is only in the Mo. Cap. stage, and that's not far enough to pull out a functional game without its developers. Without the MK team and MK 9, Midway will fall much earlier than planned and it will most likely sell Mortal Kombat in desperation.

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