Documents relating to the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings at Midway Games have revealed some interesting potential bonus dollars for a high-level crew of 29 “officers, management-level employees and other non-insider key employees," according to the bankruptcy and corporate restructuring focused netDockets.
The incentive program seems to be designed to get those 29 people to stick around long enough to get Midway back on something resembling the right track.
Milestone: Entry into a publishing/distribution agreement for Midway’s new “Wheelman” game (apparently already accomplished), performance by Midway entitling it to gross proceeds of $6 million under the agreement by March 1, 2009, and actual receipt of those proceeds. Bonus Amount: $497,500.
Milestone: Either (i) execution of an asset purchase agreement for the sale of Midway’s Mortal Kombat franchise assets or (ii) submission by Midway of a plan of reorganization to continue as a going concern. Bonus Amount: $1,292,500.
Milestone: The earlier to occur of (i) confirmation of a plan of reorganization or liquidation or (ii) closing of a sale of Midway’s Mortal Kombat franchise assets. Bonus Amount: $1,965,000.
It's probably safe to assume that the first milestone was put on track to be met when the company dealt the publishing rights off to Ubisoft. But the other two are a little more interesting, and not just because I'm way more interested in the future of Mortal Kombat than I am in Vin Diesel's upcoming adventure.
It's interesting that MK has become one of the first Midway properties that have come up in a "SELL THIS STUFF" context. I had sort of figured it would end up being one of the last, and that we'd see an IP fire sale with everything from Spy Hunter to Freaky Flyers getting dealt to other interested parties before the fighting series. Because, really, at this point, what is Midway without Mortal Kombat? That's probably why the above milestones have "or" in them. Either Midway needs to sell Mortal Kombat or find a way to reorganize and continue operation. It probably can't do both.
For its part, Midway sounds like it would rather rebuild itself than sell MK. Edge had this to say on the subject:
But Geoff Mogilner, Midway's head of investor relations said in a phone interview, "We're not going out of our way to sell Mortal Kombat." He said Midway may keep its properties instead of selling them off in pieces. "That's management's goal, to keep the company together."
Kotaku points out that the company is making these attempts to pay bonuses while former employees haven't been paid out their back pay. But considering bonus incentives like the ones proposed are probably the only thing keeping Midway's executive team on the job and focused on figuring out some kind of long-term solution, it at least makes some kind of sense. Whether that's a good or bad thing probably depends on your views on the competence of whoever those 29 people are.
So if Mortal Kombat did get dealt, who would pick it up? And do you think they'd bring over any of Midway's current MK team to keep making it?
Documents relating to the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings at Midway Games have revealed some interesting potential bonus dollars for a high-level crew of 29 “officers, management-level employees and other non-insider key employees," according to the bankruptcy and corporate restructuring focused netDockets.
The incentive program seems to be designed to get those 29 people to stick around long enough to get Midway back on something resembling the right track.
Milestone: Entry into a publishing/distribution agreement for Midway’s new “Wheelman” game (apparently already accomplished), performance by Midway entitling it to gross proceeds of $6 million under the agreement by March 1, 2009, and actual receipt of those proceeds. Bonus Amount: $497,500.
Milestone: Either (i) execution of an asset purchase agreement for the sale of Midway’s Mortal Kombat franchise assets or (ii) submission by Midway of a plan of reorganization to continue as a going concern. Bonus Amount: $1,292,500.
Milestone: The earlier to occur of (i) confirmation of a plan of reorganization or liquidation or (ii) closing of a sale of Midway’s Mortal Kombat franchise assets. Bonus Amount: $1,965,000.
It's probably safe to assume that the first milestone was put on track to be met when the company dealt the publishing rights off to Ubisoft. But the other two are a little more interesting, and not just because I'm way more interested in the future of Mortal Kombat than I am in Vin Diesel's upcoming adventure.
It's interesting that MK has become one of the first Midway properties that have come up in a "SELL THIS STUFF" context. I had sort of figured it would end up being one of the last, and that we'd see an IP fire sale with everything from Spy Hunter to Freaky Flyers getting dealt to other interested parties before the fighting series. Because, really, at this point, what is Midway without Mortal Kombat? That's probably why the above milestones have "or" in them. Either Midway needs to sell Mortal Kombat or find a way to reorganize and continue operation. It probably can't do both.
For its part, Midway sounds like it would rather rebuild itself than sell MK. Edge had this to say on the subject:
But Geoff Mogilner, Midway's head of investor relations said in a phone interview, "We're not going out of our way to sell Mortal Kombat." He said Midway may keep its properties instead of selling them off in pieces. "That's management's goal, to keep the company together."
Kotaku points out that the company is making these attempts to pay bonuses while former employees haven't been paid out their back pay. But considering bonus incentives like the ones proposed are probably the only thing keeping Midway's executive team on the job and focused on figuring out some kind of long-term solution, it at least makes some kind of sense. Whether that's a good or bad thing probably depends on your views on the competence of whoever those 29 people are.
So if Mortal Kombat did get dealt, who would pick it up? And do you think they'd bring over any of Midway's current MK team to keep making it?
You don't have MK without the MK team. Otherwise, it would be a failure. If they get sold, I'll bet EA would make a HELL of a bid for it. Why not? They don't have a fighting franchise after all (and anyone who says Def Jam deserves to be kicked in the face by Joe Budden). With all the GOOD things that EA has been doing lately (original IPs, acquiring killer teams like Bioware and Pandemic, bringing out the amazing development talents of Redwood Shores, reworking their old franchises to breath some new life into them)...
I think EA would be a worthwhile person to pick up MK.
I think buying the rights to MK without also bringing in the team (or Ed Boon at the very least) would be a pretty huge mistake. Then again, the game industry has made dumber decisions before so it's definitely not outside the realm of possibility.
""Because, really, at this point, what is Midway without Mortal Kombat?"Alive. I guess that's better than the alternative. "
...not really. What else does Midway have to offer?
Stranglehold? = /
"
Just saying, they probably don't want to go under and MK is probably their greatest assent to prevent that. At this point they're banking on Wheelman and if they survive maybe we can see some interesting new IPs... or maybe they're better off dead.
""Because, really, at this point, what is Midway without Mortal Kombat?"Alive. I guess that's better than the alternative. "
...not really. What else does Midway have to offer?
Stranglehold? = /
"
Here's what they could resurrect with some decent success perhaps (on the Wii please)!
I was so in love with this on the Dreamcast. Maybe it's not as good as Hydro, but it looked so good and it was so fun to play, with silky smooth frame rate and awesome speed. The intro above lacks the fun, but I can't find good quality gameplay videos on the tube. Maybe this low quality one will do:
Yet, the arcade version was inferior and actually pretty bad (even visually) so perhaps it wasn't in-house Midway that created the Dreamcast version... Lovely long winded tracks huh? It took almost 3 minutes for a single lap above! Here's a review. Monster Games probably took a hint from this for Excite Truck.
I guess it's too late to ask my congressman to sneak a Midway bailout into the thousand + page bailout legislation. :) Looking at Midway's upcoming titles I don't really see anything that excites me. I'm sure MK will end up in some capable developer's hands, but I really doubt that Midway survives this economy and those bankruptcy terms much longer.
As a huge, long-term Mortal Kombat fan, I don't really know what to say about the issue. I'd like for Midway to keep making MK games, but maybe that's not going to happen. At the very least, if the series becomes property of another company, I hope they hire some of the key members of the MK team to continue to work on the game under this other gaming company.
I truly hope that the Mortal Kombat licence goes to a studio which knows how to treat it well, as well as picking up some of the ex-Midway staff, whose talent contributed to the only good Mortal Kombat game in a long while. Also, Driver was a great game for the PS1 at the time and was precursor to GTA III. Sure, the tutorial level sucked giant monkey balls, but it was still way ahead of the game at that point.
Yeah, people saying Capcom should pick it up have a point. MK vs. Street Fighter could actually happen, and as long as they brought over Ed Boon and a few other key people from the team that franchise could do fine.
Realistically, I imagine somebody like Activision picking it up. They've got money to burn and don't have a good fighting game franchise under their belt. I could also totally see them picking up a few other titles from Midway, maybe grabbing Blitz to turn into their Madden competitor. They're probably in the best position to take these on.
I bet that if they can get the first 2 milestones,then they won't have to sell MK and they can get back on this "track" of which you speak.But i hope the next MK goes back to it's roots,while keeping the good stuff from MK vs DC,ie Free Fall Kombat and the enhanced controls,while getting rid of stuff like the DC characters and Test your Might...how i hate Test your Might.
even though im not into fighting games, but if they decide to give up MK then i think Take-Two would be a good candidate to pick it up. i think there are creative guys at T2 who could contribute to the franchise. other than that, EA could also pick this up, but seriously? do we really want that?
So I guess at this point it's more than likely going to be either a completely reworked Mortal Kombat (which could be fine if done right, but will probably piss a lot of fans off anyways) or NO Mortal Kombat....Let's hope wherever MK ends up, Boon follows.
I think the statement that "what is Midway without Mortal Kombat" reflects pretty well on who I'd prefer to buy the license. MK vs. DC so completely renewed my faith in MK, that I'd be hardpressed to look forward to a sale.
But I guess if I HAD to choose, I agree with the dudes saying Capcom.
Oh my god, i can't believe it. My favorite fighting franchise can't be fucked up just like this! Mortal Kombat can't be done by an entity which isn't the MK Team, it's as if Coca-Cola was made by Pepsi, or a randomly selected company.
Capcom could do some good things with the franchise if they used some RE-Like spooky gfx, but it would totally suck if they changed the typical MK Control Scheme.
And EA would be good too, but i don't feel like reading any publicity banner while doing a fatality (LOL).
If I had to choose anyone to pick up MK I'd probably go with Capcom. Who knows... maybe Capcom could actually turn MK into a fighting game more people would take seriously. Regardless of where MK ends up I hope Boon stays with it to ensure the franchise stays true to itself.
If they were to sell of franchises to keep them afloat id say sell off the following. Mortal Kombat series to SNK Gauntlet to EA or Activsion Smash TV to Capcom
Reason I say SNK over capcom, is that sure capcom has street fighter, but that's what capcom does best, like where's a new dark stalkers? Where as SNK has Samurai Showdown, KoF, Fatal Fury , Art of Fighting and so on. So they know how to deal with more types of fighting games. IF that series does get sold off Id say you at LEAST need to keep Ed Boon, cause that duddes the heart and soul of that franchise.
Id rather have Midway start selling off other stuff first really, but what can ya do?
Square should buy it. that way we could finally see the epic fight everyone has always wanted....sub-zero vs mickey mouse in...Kingdom Hearts vs Mortal Kombat!
I would love to see Midway somehow come out of this and see Mortal Kombat continue to survive under their banner. Honestly, to see Mortal Kombat with another publisher would break my heart, however, it might be the best hope for the franchise. I think I could best see it with EA or Activision (I'd prefer EA for some reason).
No matter what the turnout though, MK will be dead in my eyes without Ed Boon.
This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:
Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along
with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely
increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.
Comment and Save
Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other
Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll
send you an email once approved.
Log in to comment