The Midway development team responsible for Mortal Kombat is said to be looking at its options. Sources indicate that the team, which is numbered at about fifty developers, might leave Midway to form a new studio, as the team is growing weary over Midway’s handling of the Chapter 11 restructuring and bonus payments that have been withheld from the Mortal Kombat team.

While Mortal Kombat is clearly Midway’s most valuable franchise, our sources suggest that the developers on the team clearly help make the franchise valuable; and a mass departure by the developers would likely mean a lot of starting over for either Midway or its potential buyer. Should the developers choose to leave and set up their own studio, they would not be able to bring the Mortal Kombat franchise with them.

While Midway has publicly stated that they are not holding up bonus payments for achieved sales targets on the recently released Mortal Kombat Vs. DC, developers on the Mortal Kombat team are also said to be very unhappy about the fact that many projects are missing development targets and deadlines, while the Mortal Kombat team has been consistently on time with its bi-annual release schedule.

Several sources have said that developers on the Mortal Kombat team have had discussions with representatives of several publishers who have expressed a potential interest in the team. According to sources, Midway does not currently have the developers under contract, and should they choose to leave, it would likely be a fatal blow to Midway and would obviously delay the release of Mortal Kombat 9.