Midway Files for Bankruptcy

[DoctorFinger]

Publisher Midway Games, best known for the Mortal Kombat series, today filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The company has assets of $168 million but their debts exceed $280 million. The company is not (at the moment) shutting down operations, but is trying to dig it's way out of a heap of debt. A debt load worsened during last year's purchase deal, in which the company was bought for $100,000, or $0.0012 a share.

Source - LA Times.

[divinechaos]

Very sad news. But I was THIS close to buying MK vs. DC until I played it at my friends house and realized what a mistake I was gonna make. UT3 was fun though.

[menage]

Wow, didn't see this coming. Not that they put out much stuff worth mentioning, but damn

[ElektroDragon]

I still have purchased all the recent Mortal Kombat games. I really don't know why the popularity of the series petered out. Also, didn't Midway have publishing rights for Unreal Tournament series? I just don't see how a company with Mortal Kombat and UT in their portfolio can go belly up. Sounds like bad management.

[Dukefrukem]

economy blows!

[Heretic Machine]

This was kind of inevitable, these guys were primarily an arcade company, and just weren't able to shake their roots and fully transition into a proper console developer. It doesn't help that they seemed to place their hopes into a fighting game (not exactly a genre who's player base is growing), from a franchise that was built entirely upon gore back in the mid-90's. Say what you want about it's popularity, the Mortal Kombat games always had poor, slow fighting, and looked awful with their jerky digitized actors. Then they went and put out Mortal Kombat vs DC, which was Mortal Kombat, minus it's selling point.

[TheFlyingOrc]

Huh. I thought this already happened.

[Narradisall]

Thankfully the Games Industry is recession proof.

/sarcasm

[Karmakin]

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

I still have purchased all the recent Mortal Kombat games. I really don't know why the popularity of the series petered out. Also, didn't Midway have publishing rights for Unreal Tournament series? I just don't see how a company with Mortal Kombat and UT in their portfolio can go belly up. Sounds like bad management.

Because both MK and UT are problematic franchises. MK requires massive amounts of advertising to reach its target audience, and the nature of UT limits its sales appeal, as previous versions are seen by some of its fans (including myself) as superior, and in that way, avoid the new stuff.

[Doctor Setebos]

Just as an FYI - Midway is not (for the time being) going "belly-up". Chapter 11 bankruptcy is referred to as "reorganization bankruptcy", which allows the company to retain ownership of properties and continue doing business, but gives them the opportunity to negotiate with creditors on outstanding debts, usually within the courts.

[shunoshi]

Actually, this doesn't surprise me.

The company gets bought on the cheap, the owner claims bankruptcy which clears the company's debts, and then they're free to "try again". They really need to come up with a new IP though. Mortal Kombat is not going to cut it.

[MalReynolds]

Thank god -.- i hate these guys more then Sega

Shitty all the job lose tho ... feel bad there

[Deadend]

Well, I think Midway is doing bad because they are trying to compete with AAA franchises. In 2007 Blacksite came out around the same time as CoD 4 and Halo 3, which is bad news.

Midway should be focusing on smaller, much smaller budget games and leave the Football and FPS genres well enough alone, as unless you can outdo Madden on every front including advertising, you lose. And Shooters require tons of art assets and polish, not ingenious gameplay concepts, both of which cost lots of money.

[MachEnergy]

Originally Posted by MalReynolds

Thank god -.- i hate these guys more then Sega

Shitty all the job lose tho ... feel bad there

Better judgment tells me to not reply to this, but really? Are you serious? So what if you hate them? Do they deserve to be going through rough times? Some people like them, others don't. That doesn't mean they need to dry up and blow away.

[ElektroDragon]

This sounds crazy, but to make some quick cash they should just release a Bally/Midway Pinball collection to PSP, Wii, and 360. The recent Pinball Hall of Fame series enjoyed some massive success with the Gottleib and Williams collections, and the later is even coming to Xbox 360 as a retail game this summer. Surely there are some Bally/Midway pinball tables they could exploit?

[cp#]

Originally Posted by Narradisall

Thankfully the Games Industry is recession proof.

/sarcasm

It's not shit-game proof.

[Johan]

Originally Posted by DoctorFinger

A debt load worsened during last year's purchase deal, in which the company was bought for $100,000, or $0.0012 a share.

I honestly think that there is something fishy about that whole thing. It smells of "bailing out on big bills" to me. I wonder what the payoff was for the "buyer" to entice him to get Redstone out from under Midway.

Originally Posted by DoctorFinger

And don't shed a tear for Redstone either, his company will be reaping a $700M tax benefit for the sale.

That explains part of it. Also, the "debt" gets wiped off Redstone's plate.

Gotta love how the rich STAY rich with shenanigans like this shit.

[Xerxes]

I so hate these guys went under.

[MagGnome]

Those blaming this on the economy are being incredibly short-sided. Midway has been a second-tier publisher for at least the last two console generations. Their troubles started long before the recession.

[Purple Santa]

Originally Posted by MagGnome

Those blaming this on the economy are being incredibly short-sided. Midway has been a second-tier publisher for at least the last two console generations. Their troubles started long before the recession.

I think you are being generous stating they were second tier

And can't agree more Midway was sucking wind way before the recession. Midway's been sucking for so long I'm still surprised they are even around...