Story picked up from Giant Bomb. Midway, on the path to bankruptcy, is offering it's upper-level execs some incentive to turn things around for some fat bonuses. Here are the terms:

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.

The second two points sort of point to the same conclusion: either they're going to restructure their company to a significant extent, or they need to sell their mortal kombat franchise and float on the cash from that transaction until things are back in order. Now, Giant Bomb's Jeff Gerstmann asks the question of "what is midway without mortal kombat"? And I think I'd have to agree. The last Midway game I can think of that would have reached that kind of audience was Unreal Tournament 3, and I know that didn't sell nearly as well as they were hoping it would. It seems like reiterations of older franchises like that one just don't sell in the same way that they used to...

As for the first milestone, Ubisoft had picked up publishing Wheelman, so it looks like that one was taken care of (whether or not it happened in time, I'm not sure). Either way, I'm hoping they pick up their game, because the company that was responsible for Gauntlet: Dark Legacy sure is worth protecting to me.