Report: Midway Considers Mortal Kombat, Other Franchise Sales?

Troubled publisher Midway is currently considering a sell-off its Mortal Kombat franchise, according to details revealed in new legal documents. According to newly-released court documents, the sale of the franchise is among the milestones Midway is proposing as part of its rescue plan. The publisher is seeking court permission to operate an incentive plan for 29 key employees that would pay bonuses from a pool of $3.75 million to complete these goals. The court documents also show that Midway is hoping to be able to pay bonuses to its staff for finding a new publishing and distribution deal for Wheelman. A distribution deal with Ubisoft for the Vin Diesel vehicle was made last month, which would unlock a bonus pool of $497,000. Midway stands to gain around $6 million from the deal. Midway filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February and was subsequently delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. It received court permission to use any funds it has to continue operating and attempt to develop a restructuring plan. The first Mortal Kombat game was released in arcades in 1992 and has arguably remained Midway’s highest profile franchise ever since. The most recent title was crossover Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, which was released last Christmas to favorable reviews and which had shipped 1.8 million units worldwide as of January 2009. [UPDATE: As a post on 'The Realm Of Mortal Kombat' webpage explains, Midway's executive team would be given a bonus of almost $1.3 million if they could reorganize or sell the fighting game franchise. However, as the site notes: "The milestones say that the Midway Games executives are to earn another $1.9 million in bonuses if they submit a "Plan of Reorganization" without the sale of the Mortal Kombat franchise." "This is the largest bonus for the executives, because it's the most important to Midway to retain and keep the Mortal Kombat franchise as their own if they continue to operate after a reorganization. Thusly, the executives would be rewarded the most for retaining ownership of Mortal Kombat during the reorganization process."]