61 Frames Per Second

The Economy Strikes Again: Midway Files for Bankruptcy

Posted by Bob Mackey

It's strange; at one point in time, news of a major gaming publisher filing for bankruptcy would have been a big deal, and most likely the result of a massive bomb on the level of Sega's Shenmue. But with the current crumbly state of our economy, the collapse of yet another company is a commonplace event with no real need for explanation. That being said, are you shaken to your very core in knowing that popular publisher Midway filed for Chapter 11 today? I didn't think so--though perhaps this quote from GameSpot's take on the story will show you that Midway's status in the industry--despite the whole bankruptcy thing--was far more successful than most of us would assume:

Today's move will allow Midway to reorganize to pay off its creditors, to which the company owes $240 million--or $72.5 million more than the company's $167.5 million in total assets as of September 2008. Currently, the company's worth is substantially more, as it has now shipped (not sold) nearly 2 million copies of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. The publisher also played up the fact that its TNA Impact title also shipped more than 1 million units, and its Game Party franchise had sold more than 3 million units as of the end of 2008. Its overhead has been drastically decreased as well, after the company announced last December its plans to lay off 25 percent of its workforce.

GameSpot's analysis of the story makes the bankruptcy seem far less of a bad thing than what that scary word usually entails, but I'm not so sure; I've recently had nightmarish visions of a future gaming landscape with nothing available but variants of Wii Play. I'm not entirely sure of my ability to see into the future, but I still think we should all be just a little worried.

Related Links:

How to Create Good Game Economies when Money Grows on Trees
The Economy Strikes Again: Layoffs at Sega
How does the Game Industry compare to the Auto Industry?

+ DIGG

+ DEL.ICIO.US

+ REDDIT

Posted Feb 12 2009, 08:30 PM

Filed under: mortal kombat, bob mackey, midway, economy, bankruptcy

Comments

Roto13 said:

When Squenix or EA or Activision apply for bankruptcy, I'll start thinking of the gaming apocalypse. Midway hasn't done anything worth noting in like 15 years.

February 12, 2009 9:57 PM

LBD "Nytetrayn" said:

I miss the Bally Midway/Williams of old, whose pinball and video games would fill arcades and more.

February 13, 2009 12:48 AM

lazyfatbum said:

Sonya actually had a nice butt.

March 1, 2009 7:28 AM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

If unsatisfied, please return unused portion for partial refund.

about the blogger

John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia prizes the certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

Peter Smith is like the lead character of Irwin Shaw's The 80-Yard Run, except less athletic. He considers himself very lucky to have this job. But it's a little premature to take "jack-off of all trades" off his resume. Besides writing, travelling, and painting houses, Pete plays guitar in a rock trio called The Aye-Ayes. He calls them a 'power pop' band, but they generally sound more like Motorhead on a drinking binge.