Midway announced its first quarter results, and the news is mixed. Although the company showed sales above estimates at $29.9 million, Midway also posted a loss of $34 million, up from a loss of $19.8 million last year. The only American release during this quarter, however, was the Stranglehold expansion pack. It wasn’t too long ago that Midway’s CEO, David Zucker was shown the door, so these results aren’t entirely unexpected. It will take a few quarters before new CEO Matt Booty is able to put his stamp on the company.
Although there was only one U.S. release, Midway did do fair business in Europe:
Sales were up from the prior year’s $11.1 million. While Midway’s only U.S. release was the expansion pack, Midway released a number of titles in Europe during the quarter, including Unreal Tournament 3 and BlackSite: Area 51 for the PS3, Game Party and Cruis’n for the Wii, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends for the DS, and Hour of Victory for the PC.
As one might expect of a newly minted CEO, Booty is quite optimistic about the company’s prospects:
In a call with investors, Booty introduced himself for the first time in his new role. A Midway lifer, having worked for the company since 1991 in a number of capacities as programmer, team lead, studio head, and eventually worldwide operations senior VP, Booty said his current goals were to get Midway’s “2008 games set up for success,” and to “put Midway back on the path to profitability.”
Furthermore:
“Midway has the products, the talent, and the technology infrastructure to succeed in the industry, and this management team is committed to improving execution,” he concluded.
And if you skeptical investors needed any more convincing:
The company’s “core strategy is sound,” said Booty, after 3 years and $100 million spent on its centralized engine, toolset, and outsourcing operations, and Midway was set on improving execution and pursuing new revenue opportunities.
I do hope that Booty manages to find success over there at Midway if only because he has an amazing last name.
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