I can tell you're referring solely to the Ratbag closure (which yes, sucked for those guys), but you shouldn't lump the San Diego closure into your view of a ruthless Midway. It was the most unbelievably "gentle" closure I've seen (or been through). The company needed to retain it's workforce (who all knew almost a year in advance that the studio was going to close) to release the last game in production, so they gave contracts to everyone that worked on the title for %-of-salary bonuses each for hitting Alpha, Beta and Submission. Along with that, a contract that regardless of what happened at the studio, every employee that saw the game's completion to the end would be guaranteed 6 months salary. After the title shipped, wherever possible, employees were found homes in other Midway studios. For those that didn't want to work at Midway any longer, Midway sponsored meet-and-greets and job fairs with Sony, Lucasarts, EA, Rockstar, Bottle Rocket, and other local studios to find homes for everyone that was affected by the closure.

That's as far from ruthless as you can possibly get.

benderbendingrodriguez

benderbendingrodriguez

benderbendingrodriguez

I am sure that more than 99% of the employees at Midway didn't have say in the closing nor would they want to purposely have a hand in closing another studio. That's Corporate America for you. I choose to hope for change with those that make decisions for the better.

Reminds me of a great song…"A Change Is Gonna Come" - Sam Cooke

LONG LIVE GARAGE GAMING!!

Shredshop

When did I ever say that Boon made the right creative decisions? I said that I HOPE that he did and I'm implying that he might not have, considering he is resetting such a storied franchise with unforgettable characters.

Second of all, all you're doing is being pessimistic and all I was doing was laying out the conditions that would allow someone to be optimistic about midway. It's common sense that if the management approves a bad concept that turns into a bug ridden game with not enough resources behind it, that kind of game isn't worth delaying, it's worth canceling. But games that could have helped Midway like Blacksite should have been delayed. And I've played Blacksite and know that to be fact. If you say anything different, you haven't played the game, plain and simple. A lot of wasted potential. Some of the games that were delayed indeed turned out okay. Stranglehold and UT, for example. A delay in the right circumstance can help.

I'm sorry but when exactly did they try a next gen spy hunter, rampage, and blitz? You mean all those games that came out during the end of the last generation, those NOT next-gen games? You have an absolutely appalling attribute of not knowing what you're talking about. Spy Hunter got screwed because the movie never made it out. It was also a last gen game in dire need of better gameplay. The rampage game was just a quick budget title for last gen platforms. And blitz was an early title for the 360 that had a lot of unexplored potential, in addition to a game that was easily better than NFL Street on the PS2 and Xbox.

It's unknown whether they still have the development talent that fueled their stardom during the arcade era. But they still have great IP they can take advantage of. That means both re-releasing classics AND re-imagining them. How did they milk their old compilation packs to the bone? It's a pretty quick and cheap port to get those suckers onto PSN, VC, and XBLA in better quality. Midway also would make more money by selling them individually, something you probably did not think about. Have you seen how many of the games sold on those services were in many a compilation pack and yet STILL continue to sell? It would both boggle your mind and urge you to think before you speak.

I read reviews before I buy games too and I hope that one of these days, I can buy a Midway game in good faith, knowing that its worth my time and money. Going by what's going on now though, that day seems to be getting farther and farther away, but I've had three different console generations defined for me by Midway games and I refuse to believe that they aren't capable of getting back to their past glory.

Gagamus

Midway workers at those studios were told 2 weeks before Christmas they had no job, and given two days notice to leave the premises. People had moved their families from the UK to Australia with the guarantee of work, to be told they had no jobs. Other people had bought houses and were looking to start families in Adelaide, but friends and family were split apart, as people had to return to their own countries because they no longer had working visas, and other people had to move to another city or country because Ratbag was the only studio in Adelaide.

So fuck Midway.

FunkyJ

I'm happy to see that every once in awhile when a company puts out crap they end up paying for it in the end.

TheTwizzler

I hope Midway can rise back to its glory days. Why not? The more competition the better the products, No? I think its terrible when any studio fails, that hurts us Gamers.

Also, lets not forget that Zucker didn't have a hand full of soulless people working for him…well, maybe a few robots dressed like clowns that shoot bee's out of their arms.

I am sure there has to be some creative geniuses at Midway…LOL Go team Fantastic 4!

Now to sing the Doom song.

Shredshop

By the way, this wouldn't be the first video game company that Sumner E. Douche has ruined. Remember Viacom New Media? Probably not, because he drove that one into the ground too.

ManekiNeko

Actually can you send me $60 instead and I'll make a bad quality midway style arcade game on flash instead of you waisting money and continuing to support a company that can't accept the fact that gamers today will not buy games that can't even score above an average of 7.5 from a game review. Yes, its true there are people that solely base their purchasing decisions on game reviews. Shocking I know.

exstrat

With that said, Sumner Redstone is an idiot. Zucker is an idiot and clearly performed like one. I hope the best for Shari, she hasn't had everything handed to her on a silver platter. It will take a lot to bring Midway back. But what they need to do is CLEAR.

Mortal Kombat comes out this year for next gen consoles and we'll see how well it does but quite frankly, I'm not even sure if its success is guaranteed. Remember when Ed Boon said the franchise/series was going to be rest with a completely new story and completely new characters? Mortal Kombat has to do well. Hopefully Ed Boon made the right creative decisions. And if he didn't, the bigwigs can't be afraid to delay the game. It's clear that so many of Midway's latest crappy releases needed more time in the oven: Blacksite and LA Rush and all these other titles. Midway can't be afraid to invest in their developers, give them the resources that they need, and delay a game if it HAS to be delayed.

Secondly, Midway needs to resurrect its arcade franchises in the best possible way. Make a next gen Spy Hunter, Rampage, and get back to making awesome arcade sports games. I STILL play NFL Blitz to this day. While EA has the NFL license, Midway can go back to making NHL Hitz games. What happened to Red Card soccer? The NBA Ballers franchise hasn't kept up with the gameplay quality of the NBA Street franchise either. And where in the holy FUCK is a new San Francisco Rush game? Rush 2049 was the best arcade racing game that came out before Burnout 3 and Midway never capitalized on that franchise, like a bunch of brain dead dullards. Their titles need effort, they need polish, and they need next gen arcade gameplay. And their new titles need to be IP that they can readily take advantage of. Going from SF Rush to LA Rush and becoming a piece of shit "fast and the furious" knockoff is not going to cut it.

And they need to do what every other developer is done and milk their classic franchises in the right way. They need to put their old goddam games on Xbox Live Marketplace and the PSN store with HD graphics, legitimate online gameplay, leaderboards, voice chat, and all that other jazz. No piece of crap ports like Mortal Kombat 2 on PSN. Everything needs to be "UMK3 on XBLA" quality. They can still get money out of their old franchises if they just put the right amount of time and effort into re-releasing them.

This is the strategy Midway needs to follow if they want to be relevant and successful in the gaming industry again, instead of the chum-bait waiting to be gobbled by a mega-publisher that they are right now.

Gagamus

amisenior

onomeister

If there is a single thing to blame, then blame the fact that Midway could not over come their arcade ways. Creating games that allow players little input and thought with arcade style game-play and throw in the recent quality issues in their games with a $60 price tag on them will hurt any game company.

exstrat

dozogovi

midwaydude

dozogovi

ut3 isn't a ps3 exclusive. it was a timed exclusive. the 360 version is coming out this year.

DudeMaster

collusioned

jello44

reptile168

I'm sure he was just swell early on in his professional lifetime but old senile media kings should die when the time comes, not hang on to the last shred of relevancy like its his last breath of oxygen.

Cell9song

*shrugs*

The_Antihippy

exstrat

hefferj05

NoStyle

Sinnbox

Hour of Victory.

Covert_Knight

aphex242

Sumner Redstone HAVE lost? Sumner Redstone is not a plural noun, Sumner Redstone is a MAN. A single individual. You guys are taking to the extreme your obsession with transforming singular to plural nouns.

bluerondo

amisenior

ghnvt

Fonic

mnml10387

hefferj05

According to his employment agreement, he was paid $600k a year, was available to recieve a yearly bonus of up to 100% of his base salary, given 4 weeks vacation per year, and typical executive bennies. Plus, if he is ever terminatied, he gets the rest of the years base salary and bonus, and is given 2 years base salary on date of termination.

Man, if I get terminated I probably wouldnt even get a pink slip, let alone 2 years pay. And this was his original employment agreement. Odds are it got better as the years went on but I am too disgusted to look into it further.

Aprotosis

@Custom Reality: Infogrames owns the rights to Body Harvest, which I guess could be considered fairly ironic.

Luke, shouldn't it be "Sumner Redstone has" rather than "Sumner Redstone have"?

mindscienceofthemind

vincevl

Kanadwen

B33

CitizenInsane27

Statement of the century.

CitizenInsane27

Zho

onomeister

I think Midway would do well to bring back Body Harvest, Hydro Thunder, San Francisco Rush, and even War Gods with A++ quality and polish, I believe they could be at the top again. They were really great around the PSOne/N64 era and with some hard work I think they could be that good again.

Custom Reality

Heh. Could good ole' Chuck Norris even heal the hole in the pocket?

remanance

No kiddin'. :/
But, it's not like Midway has exactly been pumping out stellar games lately...

BPMο

Rival publishers like EA and Activision are probably just laying dormant, waiting for Midway to hit rock bottom before buying them up.

Crosswayboy

You've been served.

*burn*

VGJ

ErskinPig

odyeiop

so sad. so true.

theboyfrombrasil

Wait

Bye, Sumner!

Jesus Christ

NeoStarr

Snappywave

Candlejack

ErskinPig

lasttimeyouaskedme

Kaemon

DigitalHero