Mortal Kombat 3 was the best-selling home video game in the United States in 1995, and Midway had only just started publishing its own home games. Before that it licensed its arcade hits to Acclaim for a modest royalty. The Chicago studio behind Defender, Joust and NBA Jam now wanted that money for itself. In October 1996 its parent, the pinball maker WMS Industries, sold about 13 percent of Midway to the public.

From Arcade to Living Room

Midway had been making coin-operated games since the 1970s, from Space Invaders and Pac-Man in America to its own Mortal Kombat, whose home versions had sold more than 10 million copies. It had just bought Atari Games, maker of Gauntlet. The bet was simple. As players left the arcades for the Sony PlayStation and the Nintendo 64, Midway would follow them and publish its hits on every console.

Game Over in 2009

Midway priced at $20 a share in October 1996 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange as MWY. WMS spun off its remaining stake two years later. The arcade business faded, and Midway's home games rarely matched its old hits. Losses piled up through the 2000s. Midway filed for bankruptcy in February 2009, and Warner Bros. bought most of its assets, including Mortal Kombat, later that year.

Cover: Southwark Fair, William Hogarth. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a carnival fair (the midway).