Analysts suggest that if Midway are forced to sell off the Mortal Kombat franchise, Activision might just take it off their hands.
Speaking to GameDaily, analysts Michael Pachter (I told you he was everywhere!) and Mike Hickey agreed that Activison seemed a very likely buyer for the IP. Hickey summed it up by saying “Activision currently lacks a distinctive fighting game in their IP portfolio and has been open about using their strong cash position for IP acquisition.”
“That said, we expect the Activision team to remain a disciplined bidder, despite a ballooning cash position,” he added.
Pachter largely agreed with Hickey’s assessment of the situation, and added, “I don’t think [Activision] would buy Mortal Kombat unless they got the developers, too. That franchise is really a product of the creative [team], not just the IP, and I don’t know if the developers have any interest in working for [Activision].”
Despite what Pachter says however, Activision’s eye will be firmly on the bottom line, and given the sorry state of many of the recent Mortal Kombat games, losing the developers might not be such a bad idea. Even the most recent title, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, an attempt to reboot the series after nearly a decade of hit and miss releases, received lacklustre reviews when it was released last year.
Selling off their most high profile IP might just be the thing that saves Midway from closure, but if they do, can they survive without it?
Published: Mar 7, 2009 10:39 pm