Despite being around in the video game industry for two decades, Midway is in deep shit and it looks like there’s no getting out of it. The publisher has already laid off a number of employees and gotten rid of the upcoming Wheelman game, selling it to Ubisoft a few weeks ago. It turns out that selling that game was just one of the goals Midway high-tier executives need to accomplish if they want to receive a bonus of $3,755,000 (to be split amongst the execs, not each). Next up on the list? Getting rid of the Mortal Kombat franchise, which is what Midway is best known for (and all they have left, at this point). Any hope that Midway is going to bounce back from this financial hiccup is pretty much down the drain at this point. At least those top-tier execs are going to get a nice payday!

Wait, hold on, what? How is a company that’s been in financial trouble, and just filed for bankruptcy, able to come up with that kind of cash? Oh, right, by screwing laid off employees out of the money they’re owed.

Kotaku has obtained two documents sent to former employees, the first of which is dated February 9 and which details an employee’s last days at Midway. One of the bullet points concerns unused paid and personal time off. Midway’s original agreement was as such:

• PTO: All accrued but unused PTO (this includes unused vacation) will be paid out to you at the time of the company’s next payroll cycle after the termination of your employment.

Well, that’s awful nice of them! However, on February 20, Midway changed its tune. You can see the related document below (click to make it bigger).



So, let me get this straight. A number of employees were laid off, sent out into the worst economic climate in recent memory, but the top company executives are going to get a nearly four million dollar payday?! Now, I’m no financial whiz, and I certainly can’t claim to be an expert on the goings-on at Midway, but one would guess that the guys at the top had to be somewhat responsible for Midway’s epic downward spiral. So, to summarize: Midway’s selling off Mortal Kombat and screwing former employees. What a way to go out.

On the bright side, maybe Capcom will pick up the fighting series and we’ll get an awesome Mortal Kombat vs. Street Fighter game. But, more likely, a publisher like Activision or Ubisoft will get it and release 27 different Mortal Kombat titles a year. I can hardly wait for Mortal Kombatz Babiez.

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