Is Midway's Mortal Kombat Team Defecting? News

As Midway's precarious financial position continues to unravel, developers from its flagship studio responsible for the Mortal Kombat series are reportedly "frustrated" with the company's handling of the situation and are considering moving to another publisher.

Unnamed sources at Midway have expressed the studio's annoyance at the situation to Kotaku, with the most significant bone of contention being unpaid bonuses for meeting sales targets with Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.

Other contributing factors include an escalating frustration at Midway's handling of its bankruptcy filing, as well as developers losing patience over delivering million selling projects to schedule while other titles under the publisher's awnings continually miss their targets.

Senior developers are reportedly co-ordinating a collective move away from Midway for the Mortal Kombat team and are currently involved in discussions with several unnamed publishers to that effect.

A Midway Spokesperson has commented officially, stating that the development team is in "good shape" while also explaining that, "Midway is not refusing to pay out those bonuses. It's the unsecured creditors committee that is refusing to allow us to pay them. They're the ones holding that up."

If the development team does manage to slip away from Midway's ailing grasp (the publisher has already had to close and consolidate a number of studios), then the future of the currently in development Mortal Kombat 9 project at the studio is also thrown into question, as well as the destination of the Mortal Kombat intellectual property.