Midway Austin facing 90 layoffs, 'Criminal' canceled [update]

Midway Austin is expected to lay off as many as 90 200 employees within the next 30 days and has canceled development of "Criminal," a source told Joystiq today. The significant downsizing would follow last week's departure of three high-ranking Midway execs in the wake of another dismal financial quarter. Gamasutra partially corroborates today's news, reporting that its sources have confirmed that some layoffs occurred late last week at the Austin office. Additional information about the status of Criminal (or even what is was!) has yet to be detailed. The mysterious IP was first reported to be in development two years ago.

We have reached out to Midway for further clarification on the status of the Austin studio and its projects, and will update as soon as we obtain a statement.

Update: Midway has issued a press release detailing the layoffs and game cancellation (note: emphasis ours): "Midway Games Inc. today announced that it has canceled an as-yet-unannounced project in production in its Austin, TX, facility, and as a result Midway will have a reduction in force of a portion of the affected development team. The studio will remain open and will continue to operate both the Company's Central Outsourcing Group as well as two teams that are working on unnamed prototype projects intended to expand Midway's portfolio of new intellectual property ... The workforce reduction will affect approximately 90 of the 130 people currently employed in the studio." [Thanks, dvnt]