No more Midway in 50 days?

[The Stinger]

Midway Are 50 Days Away From Bankruptcy (http://kotaku.com/5102225/midway-are-50-days-away-from-bankruptcy)

Poor Midway. They sure ain't what they used to be. From arcade powerhouse to third-rate console publisher, today it's been revealed the company are now facing a new low.

An SEC filing uncovered by Variety shows the company have 50 days to settle their outstanding debts. Debts that, as of today, stand at $150 million. Pity Midway don't have that kind of money.

Midway is Sold for Pennies on the Dollar (http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/12/01/midway-sold-pennies-dollar)

A few days ago their controlling shares were bought by Mark Thomas for only $ 100.000,- and by doing that bought himself a debt of $70 million. Yeah, that seems like a good deal. :doh:

So is this the end of Midway or will a Christmas miracle come along(with $150 million).

[avatar_58]

Meh, what's the last good midway published title you've played?

[The Stinger]

Rampage: Total Destruction(2006) was fun as a 2 player game.
In my opinion the rampage series is the most fun series they ever made, with
Rampage: World Tour(1997) being the best.

It's just too bad there wont be anymore games like that if Midway is gone, or the chance of them actually making a good MK game again.

[Thief]

A shame. They've had some good titles. All the MKs, Psi-Ops, Stranglehold.
You will be missed.

[Zztx]

A sign of the times; our heroes are dying. :(

Thanks for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, NARC, NBA Jam/Hangtime/Showtime, The Grid, Smash TV and all the other wacky and outrageous American-made arcade goodness you brought us over the years.

While Midway games may not always have played the best (Street Fighter II > Mortal Kombat), there aren't so many games that have made me laugh my ass off.

*fondly reminisces Liu Kang's bicycle kick noise*

EDIT:
Ok, so Smash T.V. was a Williams game... close enough.

[Steve]

I'm guessing I wont see a *real* mortal kombat ... ever. :o Hey, I've been waiting since MK3.

:mad:

It's sad though :(

[Wamplet]

^ well said. :o

They strayed too far from the arcade on that franchise.

[DerricktheW]

And here I was anticipating the first original Mortal Kombat where they have a completely new roster and gameplay thats built from the ground up for this gen of gaming.

Ever since Shaolin Monks I've been waiting for this, and now it looks like it wont happen.

[hellchicken]

I'm guessing I wont see a *real* mortal kombat ... ever. :o Hey, I've been waiting since MK3.

:mad:

It's sad though :(

Why not though? I'm sure some other publisher will get hold of some of Midways IPs and use them to make new games.

Actually I'm HIV positive about that.

On the other hand though, I don't know if I could bear an EA produced MK game. :mryuck:

[Superczar]

I'm not surprised, most of their arcade hits were in the 90's... if they would have kept up to other makers in the touchscreen game business, who knows, they would be better off. We have one old Midway touchscreen game and it gives us zero problems, unlike ones made by Merit. Their Cruisin' games are very popular still...

[peoplessi]

When you only make shit games, and try to grab your audience money, it will happen.

[Karthik]

I wish it was Jowood instead of Midway. Maybe Atari can buyout Midway.

[avatar_58]

If jowood goes down they take with them the Adventure Company and DreamCatcher. That's a big hit considering those two publish many games that would otherwise never see the light of day.

[psyborg]

If this happens I hope Area 51 and Mortal Kombat find good homes.

[Phait]

Poor Midway. They sure ain't what they used to be. From arcade powerhouse to third-rate console publisher, today it's been revealed the company is now facing a new low.

An SEC filing uncovered by Variety shows the company have 50 days to settle their outstanding debts. Debts that, as of today, stand at $150 million. Pity Midway doesn't have that kind of money.

Fixed. :mad:

Also..

Meh, what's the last good midway published title you've played?


NFL BLITZ!

[The Cool One]

Nooo i love mortal combat :(

[8IronBob]

Wonder where the Mortal Kombat franchise would go from here? Who'd take ownership of that? I mean, that IS Midway's flagship series.
On top of that, Epic would have to find someone new again to distribute the Unreal brand. Maybe they may go to Microsoft like they did with the GoW series?

[Boo Boo Juice]

didn't read the whole post.

[8IronBob]

Yeah, Midway's usually only been good at publishing for other companies like Epic, as I mentioned. What much has Midway really done on their own that's actually innovative of late?
Speaking of which, anyone know if Midway's looking for someone to buy them? But please, DON'T LET IT BE M$ OR EA!

[NutWrench]

I remember the Joust bug. You could also fly near the top of the screen and just let the knights smack into you from below.

Did anyone ever manage to develop a decent Light Cycles game (Tron)? There are several third party versions that are "ok" but I'm surprised no one has made a good one (especially with today's graphics cards).

[Altered Reality]

It's all because of piracy. :tinyted:

[The Stinger]

Piracy caused the Mortal Kombat series to decline?

[Karthik]

He was being sarcastic I guess.
Avatar-58, you are right. All the sudden I feel bad for wishing bad thing to happen to Jowood. By the way I've noticed TAC and DCI releasing previous games in compilation packs......are they doing this to generate fast income or to cover massive losses?

[Altered Reality]

He was being sarcastic I guess.
Indeed I was. The recent trend is to blame piracy for everything, I was just jumping on the bandwagon. :)

[Talos]

what the... A few days ago I read about Midway Games new project which is supposed to be better than Gears of War: http://gamestar.de/news/pc/action/1951618/midway_games.html

I really thought they were doing fine.

[Jiminator]

A few days ago their controlling shares were bought by Mark Thomas for only $ 100.000,- and by doing that bought himself a debt of $70 million. Yeah, that seems like a good deal. :doh:
buying shares of a company does not make you responsible for their debt, he would have had to buy the company for that. anyways maybe he has some ideas. 100k is a small amount to risk for various types of payoffs. some of the IPs are probably worth much more, but are not being developed well.

[avatar_58]

He was being sarcastic I guess.
Avatar-58, you are right. All the sudden I feel bad for wishing bad thing to happen to Jowood. By the way I've noticed TAC and DCI releasing previous games in compilation packs......are they doing this to generate fast income or to cover massive losses?

No clue. There's only a handful of adventure publishers left though, so I don't want to see any bite the big one even if their games suck.

[Usurper]

buying shares of a company does not make you responsible for their debt, he would have had to buy the company for that. anyways maybe he has some ideas. 100k is a small amount to risk for various types of payoffs. some of the IPs are probably worth much more, but are not being developed well.

I believe he took on 75 million dollars of debt, which is why they sold him the stock so cheaply. They still have over a hundred mill in additional debts though.

[The Stinger]

Indeed I was. The recent trend is to blame piracy for everything, I was just jumping on the bandwagon. :)

Oops my bad. :doh: :censored:

I believe he took on 75 million dollars of debt, which is why they sold him the stock so cheaply. They still have over a hundred mill in additional debts though.

Yup, that's basically what happened.

[crunchy superman]

Yeah, Midway's usually only been good at publishing for other companies like Epic

Kinda funny though - Atari was publishing Epic and started to tank. Epic goes to Midway, and now Atari is recovering while Midway is tanking. Hmmm ;)

[8IronBob]

Kinda funny though - Atari was publishing Epic and started to tank. Epic goes to Midway, and now Atari is recovering while Midway is tanking. Hmmm ;)

That's why I was thinking that just like M$ teamed up with Epic for their GoW Series, Epic probably may go to M$ with Unreal as well, time will tell, tho.

[8IronBob]

Meh, what's the last good midway published title you've played?

Unreal Tournament 3, what else? They teamed up with Epic on that one, but at least they got their end done.

[Phayzon]

Ah well, thanks for Rampage, specifically World Tour and (my fave) Universal Tour :love:. Now, if Total Destruction didnt suck, I would actually miss you.

[Karthik]

Didn't Midway have this really impressive UE3 framework being shared by all the studios....maybe that's one reason why Epic sided Midway....maybe.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

Is midway doing mortal combat vs. DC?

I see commercials for it all the time.

[Karthik]

Bro, it's out in the stores now.

[avatar_58]

Unreal Tournament 3, what else? They teamed up with Epic on that one, but at least they got their end done.

Case closed, shut 'er down.

[MegaMustaine]

Piracy caused the Mortal Kombat series to decline?

Must be talking about a decline in gameplay as the series still has great sales numbers. And just to be argumentative I will say that I think the gameplay is still great. I really do love MK vs DC Universe.

[Steve]

Must be talking about a decline in gameplay as the series still has great sales numbers. And just to be argumentative I will say that I think the gameplay is still great. I really do love MK vs DC Universe.

I seen a vid over at screwattack.com of MK vs DC. It really looks like fun.

[8IronBob]

Case closed, shut 'er down.

Right, Epic made a rather bad choice of who to turn to for their next installments of the Unreal franchise, imo. Had Epic brought EVERYTHING to MS, not just GoW, but Unreal, too, then that may have brought Epic more focused on just using one company for everything.

[Steve]

Had Epic brought EVERYTHING to MS, not just GoW, but Unreal, too, then that may have brought Epic more focused on just using one company for everything.

Also one console for everything. No thanks.

[razgriz]

I woudn't want Midway to go.

The recent Mortal Kombat titles from Deadly Alliance to Armageddon have been solid.

[DerricktheW]

I woudn't want Midway to go.

The recent Mortal Kombat titles from Deadly Alliance to Armageddon have been solid.

...but they've been the same game.

Seriously. Maybe a new character or two is in Deception that weren't in Deadly Alliance, and vice versa, and they just ported everything over and recreated old characrers for Armageddon, but it's still the same game redone.

Shaolin Monks, however, yes, WAS a solid game.

VS. DC wasn't bad either. It's... pretty fun.

But, I've been waiting for the new Mortal Kombat, with a different setting and completely different characters and all that, built from the ground up for 'next' gen consoles, which is suppose to be their next game. Unless they decide to port VS. DC to the Wii and call that a new game. :/