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Midway CEO Zucker departs, company left looking for leadership
We imagine piloting a company like Midway, which has been exhaling money like it was CO2, is not an easy or even enviable task. That's why we can't fault longtime Midway CEO and president David Zucker for donning a life preserver and jumping ship, leaving the company and taking his chances in the murky waters below.In the interim, Midway has put executive Matt Booty in charge until a suitable replacement for Zucker can be found and shackled to the wheel. Says Midway chairman Shari Redstone, the company needs "dynamic new leadership," and that the publisher "has the resources and creative capability to once again be competitive with the best in the videogame business." While we'll believe that when we see it, we'd advise Midway to invest in some new locks -- Zucker's departure marks the third time this year an executive has run out the front door, abandoning the beleaguered company for greener pastures.
UT3, Stranglehold sell more than a million worldwide
It's silver lining time. Midway Games, which misplaced nearly $100 million in 2007, has announced that despite leaking money like a rusty sieve, two of its most prominent releases last year, Unreal Tournament 3 and Stranglehold, each managed to sell through more than a million units globally. The announcement was made by company CEO David Zucker during a recent conference call, and while sales were not broken down across platform or region, the executive did note that "European PC sales of Unreal Tournament 3 are outpacing North America." Still, we'd encourage Midway not to call out the cheerleaders just yet. There is still that nagging issue of all that missing money.
Midway says they're not the only ones "concerned" over PS3
As if Sony needed any other publisher's concern, Midway spoke out the other day about the up-take (or up-doc, if you want some tomfoolery) of the PS3. Midway's CEO David Zucker did the talking, but his words strike home and we're concerned about the same things he is: we want the good PS3 titles to sell very well. He's also concerned about console sales, feeling the price cut will deliver a nice, temporary boost to sales, but it might not be enough. If you're wondering why Midway is so concerned, it's because for once, they're not trying to sell a Mortal Kombat title. They've got the special edition of Stranglehold and Unreal Tournament 3 coming out over the next few months and those are pretty important titles to get sales for. Midway wonders if another price cut will come in the future, if it's enough, and if their big titles will make a splash on the PS3, or bellyflop. Everybody knows that getting a pink belly is not a very fun way to start your day at the lake.
Midway goes all the way to lend a shoulder to Sony [Update]
Over at IGN, an interview was covered between GamesIndustry.biz and Midway CEO David Zucker. Zucker stood behind Sony's ever popular pricing decision with many points given similar to the breakdown of a bargain posted the other day. He mentioned the very inclusion of a Blu-Ray player and all features that come with that makes it worth the price. If the market for Blu-Ray takes off and it becomes the norm, it helps not only the PS3 all the more, but the Blu-Ray world as well.While PS3 does gather a lot of bad press, this is yet another very large, recognizable company name that does indeed lend support to Sony. Just a basic checklist of companies (well, person/persons in a company, but for generalization) that support Sony so far include, but aren't limited to: Square-Enix, Konami, EA, Midway and Activision. It may not seem like much, but it's better than being surrounded by flame.[Update: Fixed a typo.]
