Midway reports $76m in losses for Q308, pins Q4 hope on MK vs. DC Universe

by Ross Miller on Nov 10th 2008 5:00PM

For its third fiscal quarter of 2008, Midway has reported net losses of $75.9 million, more than twice the $33.5m net loss in Q3 2007. According to the press release, the publisher cites three "well-received games" as highlights for its third quarter: TNA iMPACT, the Xbox 360 launch of Unreal Tournament III and Mortal Kombat: Kollection for PS2.

As for the fourth quarter (i.e. the lucrative holiday season), Midway has two flagship titles to boost revenue: Blitz the League II (already released to mediocre reviews) and next week's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. For Q408, Midway expects net revenue of $105 million, or approximately half of its annual revenue, with more losses to follow and an underwhelming 2009 lineup (This is Vegas, Wheelman and TNA). The publisher, now under new management, looks to have a rather steep uphill battle -- or using Midway's own Mortal Kombat metric, it'll be at least 4 more contenders before they get to challenge Goro.

Source

Tags: breakingnews, fy08, js-twitter, midway, q308, q32008

Reader Comments (46)

They aren't going to be doing well next year if that's the case.

Midway, when you only want to get halfway there.

Your pinning your hopes on a Teen Rated Mortal Kombat game?

gg!

Gimped Fatalities = No monies from me!

you were pinning your $60 on fatalities?
guessing you bought halo 3 just for the mongoose too

Won't be getting $60 from me, that's for sure.

Agreed. I was actually considering picking this up after seeing the original, uncensored Joker fatality. Way to go Midway. You lose 60 more dollars.

yep same thoughts here.

AND UK gets the uncensored killing joke fatality? F that!

I canceled my preorder for the CE edition of their game due to their neutering of the franchise. I am sure I am not the only one. DC Universe "might" be good but that remains to be seen.

Why can't companies that are so afraid of the Video Game Ratings (like Midway) release two versions of the game: The Teen Rating version and the Mature one? Just called the mature one the "unedited" version or whatever like they do with certain movies when they come out on DVD. Seems like the logical way to go when they are cutting out stuff that was already made (like the Joker Fatality).

Confusion at the retailer. The minute a parent who isn't paying attention inadvertently buys their teenager the mature rated version and gets their panties in a bunch over the content, you'll see exactly why...

I think literacy should be a requirement for becoming a parent. It is not difficult to read a box and discern what "unedited" may mean especially for a franchise like MK that is infamous for being violent. Yes, the letter M might be confusing for someone who is not aware of the ratings system, but the words "Unedited Edition" with some blood splotches for added effect shouldn't be, even for the most video game-retarded parent.

What about dyslexic parents?

Because DC doesn't want their characters to be in an M-rated game.

A B A C A B B

"Because DC doesn't want their characters to be in an M-rated game."

Then that's a big fail on both DC and Midway. On DC for collaborating with Midway to make a T rated Mortal Kombat game and think it will be well received.

Fail on Midway for selling out and making a T rated MK.

"especially for a franchise like MK that is infamous for being violent."

Just because we as gamers are familiar with the ins and outs of the gaming industry doesn't mean that we should assume that everybody else is aware of franchises as well.

I would wager the average parent doesn't know what Mortal Kombat specifically is...aside from the fact its a game.

crap. nothing more needs to be said after reading the first 5 comments.

Oh well. Another one bites the dust, that means.

They're boned!

So with 3 well received games, they still lost 76m... but they are hoping to do well with 1 upcoming game :S

Lol, looks like Midway will be out of the picture sooner than I anticipated, what a shame... well, not really.

As for the "new management", passing the baton to Booty hardly counts as new management, the last good idea he contributed wasn't in recent memory.

As a gamer in his mid-30's, I can safely say this - Midway hasn't made a good game since before Bally sold them off, in the late 80's.. Like around the time of Xenpohobe and Rampage. To me, purchasing, then dismantling Williams Electronics back in the early 90's was what killed Midway.

The only thing that kept Midway alive so long was owning the US rights to the Pac-Man series, before Namco got wise, and took them back.

Yeah, because MK never made money...?!? And I disagree. I'm actually not a huge fan of the old MK's (always preferred SF), but MK: Deception was actually really good.

Sorry, but this doesn't even look like it's worth renting.. They need to focus on making the Mortal Kombat series relevant again. Maybe they should pull a Capcom and do HD-Remixes of the first ones using the current games artist or something.

well they had a good run but i think Midway is about ready to give up the ghost.

I think MKvDC will do a lot better in sales and reviews, than a a lot of comments on this site suggest.

Midway is boned though.

And on an unrelated note: The world must know of this --->
http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.45.swf?cid=317016

WUT

those your pups or something?

no,

I wasted a good chunk of time today looking at the puppies and thought I would share

oh, and the green one is the best

How can you lose $75,900,000.00 in three months and have "highlights"? And yeah: T-rated MK=no sale for me as well. VIDEO GAMES ARE NOT EXCLUSIVELY (or even mostly) FOR CHILDREN. How many more decades is this going to take...?

Are they serious? They are hoping on MK - DC? Wow, desparate times calls for ... yah. Time to bling-up ye old CV and Resume.

All of the MK's up to MK4 were amazing. Everything else sux ballz. I use to be a hardcore MK fan, and this game honestly looks really bad to me. Over the past couple games, the fatalities have gone from button smashing 10 buttons to just simply pressing 1 button Fatalaites. Bringing DC into the equation is stupid I think, cheap way to draw DC fans to the series. They also keep putting mini games into there game, horrible idea. They are basically telling us there game isn't that great alone, so they throw in some shit kart racing, tetris etc.. making the game look even worse.

If I were Midway Id buy a totally new engine, id shy away from the cartoon style and go REALISTIC. Imagine, Mortal kombat GOW realistic graphics!!! I for one would love to see what Subzero would look like in high detail, not in animation. I got so many more ideas, too lazy to type more.

OMG that is the Unreal Engine 3. im a noob. then again, they have alot for improvement.

Pinning their hopes on MK vs DC?

They're so screwed!

No. They also pinned their hopes on another "Winner" Blitz: The League 2.

Personally, I'm surprised Midway is still around. They have bled money for years, and put out crap after crap. Just like Atari, the name "Midway" itself has more value then the games they release.

I don't get it. I'm not saying being a CEO of a video game company is easy, but if it's anything like the company I work for.. it's really simply common sense.

How about some free advice Midway, from me to you. Look back in the past, see what sold, and make some sequels that we want (NOT like what you're doing with MK). I mean seriously, even some rehashes would gain some bucks. What the hell is Wheelman going to get you? Nothing.

Make a new Hydro Thunder sequel with some current gen graphics.. stuff like that. Not exactly Mirror's Edge, but hey..it's better than Blitz. Seriously people.. not that hard.

Dead serious, that Hydro Thunder idea is very good. Here's a multi million dollar company trying to shoe horn two good things together to make one terrible thing. Screw 'em both. A new Hydro Thunder would be kick ass. Holy shit.

I don't have much confidence in MK vx DC.

I suggest that if you have ANY Midway stock you sell it now and accept your losses. I still can't believe they made MK vs. DC Teen. Maybe that was because DC didn't want to pollute their character's images too much. However, that just shows how much it doesn't fit. Superman in a MK game just never seemed right. Plus, Batman's personal rule is no killing. What is his fatality supposed to be?

...killing?

It mystifies me that they continue screwing up the Blitz franchise. I have never been much of a sports game fan, but many a great afternoon was spent hosting a Blitz tournament. Get five or six guys, some beers and Blitz. The recipe is simple. No rules football with some over the top violence. Make sure multiplayer works. Don't give us a broken AI (seriously, average is fine, doesn't need to be great).

We don't care about the lame story you've carefully crafted to nudge the NFL in the ribs because they took away your license. We don't even care that we can do drugs and hire hookers. We bought the game to play football, preferably while screaming at our best friend after he kicked our player in the groin and ran 50 yards for a touchdown.

Fuck it. You know what, just quit trying. Release the original Blitz, strip out the NFL references and update the graphics. I'll buy it.

Why did they have to include the MK universe? This would have been a pretty good DC fighting game. Including the MK universe made this stupid.

I couldn't play past the first five minutes becaus the Joker is so... white.

I have purchased every Mortal Kombat game ever released, and unfortunately I'll be skipping out on this one. MK, a TEEN rating? WTF were you thinking Midway??? Hoping that the Dark Knight hype would continue into your game?

Well I dont know for sure but doesnt Midway have more than one franchise? Like Back a decade or so didnt they make a hundred games in the arcade? Pick an old game renew it "Properly" and make some cash. No one wants a teen rated MK.
If you want to sell MK you need to get back to the roots. Realistic characters like the first MK and spine pulling, Head decapatating, Heart ripping, Blood Drenched gameplay. Lets go AO and then tone it down to M. Or leave it as AO and be bold like you used to be.

It was Ed Boon and John Tobias. Didnt one of them leave and then the Franchise went to shit?

I was planning on throwing my $60.00 at the Midway Relief Fund (MK vs. DC) and I still will....when they are willing to make it a game worth playing. No M rating, no money. But hey maybe you can whine to the government about your losses and they can bail your butts out too!

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Midway reports $76m in losses for Q308, pins Q4 hope on MK vs. DC Universe

Reader Comments (46)

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