It's a sad state of affairs when the gaming community ceases to be surprised by once-strong developers/publishers sinking into the dark depths of liquidation. Midway Games has been fighting to stay afloat for quite a while now. Initially they had to borrow money to finish and release Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, and then the company's controlling stake was sold for a mere $100,000, when at last the word came through that the sands of time had started counting against them.
While the latest news is far from stating that Midway have steered clear of shit-creek, they have managed to give themselves a bit of breathing room. The sale of Midway Games in December saw the triggering of a provision that would allow for the company's creditors to call in money owed, dozens of years before the agreed repayment date. According to this article over at Business Week, Midway has managed to negotiate an extension for a holder of $75 million worth of convertible senior notes until the 19th of February. Midway is also currently in negotiations with other holders of convertible notes in the hopes of a similar extension.
While the extension is good news for Midway Games as it provides them with some much needed breathing space, it does beg the question as to how they plan on coming up with the large sums of money required to clear their debt. Either a lot of piggy banks will be cracked open or some more drastic measures may have to be taken. We're wondering what sort of price tag could be placed upon a successful intellectual property and whether they'd be willing to part with the likes of a Mortal Kombat franchise.
New report from Skillsearch found that 22% of those surveyed had been laid off within the past 12 months.
It's a step forward for Stop Killing Games.
The Callisto Protocol director thinks the solution involves the right people, the right timing, and perhaps a little bit of AI
I don't agree with that. I WISH I could agree with that. But buying habits and customer opinions prove otherwise
We've seen developers in the AAA space try new things and ideas. More often than not, the customers aren't willing to give things a chance, or not enough people buy into the project for it to grow.
Creativity works better in the indie space because the budgets, pressures, and expectations aren't the same.
it's a nice idea and it worked during the PS2/PS3-era when AAA didn't cost hundreds of millions of dollars. smaller budgets and shorter development time left room for more creativity and more risk. a game didn't need to sell 4 million+ copies to break even. things are different now.
This is the guy who bragged about crunching his staff and having them work through the night. Crunch culture has lost more talent and done more damage to the industry than any other factor. Screw him.
