Whilst penning last months retrospective article on the Street Fighter series and my own history with it, I found it a little poignant that at a time when Street Fighter is currently getting plaudits from nearly all corners of the industry, one of its major rivals since the early days finds itself at the opposite end of the spectrum. I’m talking of course about Mortal Kombat, and yes the last couple of iterations weren’t exactly hated by any stretch and it still commands a fairly hardcore fan base; it’s fair to say it’s been a while since the series was as cherished as it used to be. Even when the series developer and publisher, Midway, filed for bankruptcy protection in February, it still came as quite a shock to discover that they were even about to consider selling off one of their big name franchises in Mortal Kombat as part of a plan to raise money to compensate unpaid bonuses to 29 members of staff. It sounded an odd move, I mean should the worst happen and bankruptcy look a certainty, surely Mortal Kombat would be one of the key points of interest to any company looking to bail Midway out of their financial issues with a takeover bid?
Midway spokesman Geoff Mogilner told MTV’s Multiplayer weblog that ‘It’s not our goal to sell Mortal Kombat’, and that the proposal was merely one possibility as the company looks to secure their financial future while adding that the next MK game is already being worked on. The above proposal was eventually rejected by The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors and the United States Trustee, but what would happen if Midway did decide to let one of its big franchises go? Who would be the main contenders looking to pick it up? I can’t speak for all the developers out there, but I take a look at some of the most likely, some dark horses, and a down-right ridiculous suggestion.
THE SAFE BETS: EA & Activision Blizzard
You really can’t look much further than these two publishing giants when you look at prospective buyers for a big-name franchise. Even with EA’s recent fresh approach in regards to original IP’s and taking into account their disappointing revenue for last year leading to redundancies, you still couldn’t rule them out of a shrewd bit of business in looking to pick up rights to popular IP’s and developers. Also you can look at their purchase of Bioware as an example, and if rumours are to be believed the team dedicated to Mortal Kombat may be looking to split from Midway…
Aside from being in a position where they could realistically swim in their profit, people may point to Activision’s abandonment of potentially big games such as the upcoming Ghostbusters and Riddick titles last year as reason why they wouldn’t be in the running for the Mortal Kombat series, but honestly I’d point to that as a reason why they would. Think about it, shortly after they announced they were dropping a shed-load of highly anticipated titles already deep in development in the wake of their merger with Blizzard, they managed to coin the awful term ‘Annualisable’ with Bobby Kotick stating that the dropped titles ‘don’t have the potential to be exploited every year on every platform with clear sequel potential and have the potential to become $100 million dollar franchises. I think, generally, our strategy has been to focus on the products that have those attributes and characteristics, the products that we know [that] if we release them today, we’ll be working on them 10 years from now.’ One thing is for sure, it is certainly an IP that could easily be milked yearly, and could spawn a few more dodgy spin-off titles, which would surely have Activision raising their eyebrows. Lets also not forget that EA also have ’some’ experience with the exploitation of popular titles, and it is for these reasons that I put these two as the clear favourites.
THE OUTSIDE BETS: Square Enix & Codemasters
‘Square Enix?!!’ Yes, I did hear you all recoiling in sheer disbelief as I confirmed my choice of the Japanese outfit as a relatively serious outside contender for the franchise. Why not? It’s simple; they have already gone at great lengths recently to state and reiterate that they are looking to crack the Western market more in the coming years, and their current takeover of Eidos shows us just how serious they were. It also suggests that they are eagerly waiting for opportunities to take advantage of the crumbling Western economy to add some globally popular franchises to their portfolio, and this would seem to be one of those possibilities. If they’re willing to take the gamble on the likes of Lara Croft and Agent 47, why not Sub Zero and the gang?
It seems extremely odd to me that while at the time of writing Codemasters have an extremely varied catalogue at the moment, with racers, shooters, RPG’s and MMO’s, but one look at their current line-up seems to show that they do seem to be minus a fighter franchise. A brief look at their history shows that this isn’t really ground they’ve attempted to cover before, so why not take a gamble on adding another string to your bow? Not only would picking up Mortal Kombat allow them to try and profit on an established and successful name, it would also involve less risk than generating a new IP.
ANDY’S DREAM CHOICE BUT PROBABLY WON’T HAPPEN: Capcom
I was going to say it wasn’t I? Regular readers already know that I’m severely addicted to Street Fighter IV (or at least you should!) but if Capcom was to pick up the Mortal Kombat IP, I for one would be utterly thrilled. For starters, who wouldn’t love to see exactly what Capcom’s talented artists could do with a fresh perspective on the classic MK Characters? A bold move like this could also lead to other opportunities, Ed Boon talked previously on a number of occasions (most recently to Major Nelson) about his desire to collaborate and produce a Street Fighter vs. Mortal Kombat title, but stated that the stumbling block was always who would lead development, and if Capcom decided to try and take on the MK IP it would instantly remove that sticking point. Going by the comparative quality of their respective recent games I’m not entirely sure it should have been that much of a sticking point to be honest.
So there you have it, agree, disagree? Hit us with it in the comments section.
