US publisher Midway has confirmed that it is holding talks with parties interested in acquiring its cherished Mortal Kombat property – but it added that it would still ideally like to hold on to its brand.

“There are conversations for certain,” spokesperson Geoff Mogilner told MTV. “There’s definitely interest in Mortal Kombat. I’m not going to lie about that.

“However, it’s not our goal to sell Mortal Kombat. It is something that, in the world of scenarios, it is something that could happen here. But it’s not something that we as a company are going for.”

Mogilner added that Midway’s dev teams are currently hard at work in the next instalment to the franchise.

Selling Mortal Kombat is one of the options discussed internally at Midway as the firm attempts to avoid collapse. Its owner Mark Thomas has admitted that the company is “haemorrhaging cash at an alarming rate”.