THE BORE
General => Video Game Bored => Topic started by: Green Man on December 01, 2008, 01:27:12 PM
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Sumner Redstone has sold his controlling stake of Midway Games for a paltry USD 100,000 (GBP 66,718 / EUR 79,241), or just USD 0.0012 per share.
That 87 per cent will be bought by private investor Mark Thomas, in a deal the Wall Street Journal said will be officially announced today, according to Media Memo.
That same stake was apparently worth around USD 30 million on Friday, and Thomas will also assume Midway's chunky USD 70 million in debt as part of the deal.
Redstone was said to have sold Midway Games to ease his company's - National Amusements' - whopping USD 1.6 billion in debt. Half of that has to be paid back by the end of 2008, apparently, which is just 30 days away.
Midway Games has had a tough year, cancelling unannounced projects, laying off staff and facing the constant threat of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange.
The videogame company will look to Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe to ease many of its troubles, although critics appear to have been less than bowled over so far.
I predict that EA buys the Mortal Kombat ip, whatever the 'secret' midway game is, and Wheelman.
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Whoever bought it got ripped off.
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man, *i* coulda bought midway. caligula the movie the game coulda been a reality. :'(
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TOP DOG: SLAM DUNK'N HOES: THE GAME
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We could collectively buy it from Mark Thomas and rename it Evilbore Games. Then we could talk about fucking peoples mothers and get praised for it. We could probably get away with working on a game for ten years, then releasing bullshit too.
I've got ~$50,000 in my savings account right now.... we could have totally bought it.
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Cyber Monday :bow2
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Didn't it actually indirectly cost him 70million cause he has taken over the debt too?
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that can't be Midway's entire debt, they've been bleeding like a stuck pig for years now. I would have thought they'd be much deeper in the hole.
even if you consider that Midway as a whole was worth only 70 mil and change, that's still an absolute steal, for the IP and development staff they hold. Sure, there's maybe not anything there that's really worth that much on the open market, but as a fixer-upper goes, its a bargain and a half.
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Mortal Kombat as a brand is worth $20 mil alone.
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Mortal Kombat as a brand is worth $20 mil alone.
Too bad they have nothing to make up the last $50 mil. Maybe Smash TV 3D
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Edit
Goddamn, that is cheap. I don't understand how MS was able to waste the likes of 350 million, and whatever shit, and then something as big as Midway gets bought by 100 million.
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Edit
Goddamn, that is cheap. I don't understand how MS was able to waste the likes of 350 million, and whatever shit, and then something as big as Midway gets bought by 100 million.
(http://i34.tinypic.com/2ebek9g.jpg)
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Mortal Kombat as a brand is worth $20 mil alone.
its only worth that if somebody is willing to pay for it. The Fallout IP went for about that much iffin I recall correctly, sure, now it looks like a smart move, but a couple years back I would have thought they overpaid.
My point is that unlike Fallout, which was a popular western RPG that sold to a RPG-centric company, there isn't hardly anybody making fighting games anymore, it doesn't really fit in to the existing portfolio of any big time publisher I can think of (maybe Capcom would buy it cheaply just so they can ridicule it in a future game, I dunno), unlike Fallout or Driver or any of the Sierra pickups that have occurred, all of those made sense to their respective buyers. Not to mention pretty much every publisher is tightening their belts at the moment.
Midway has a bunch of ancient and not easily exploitable IP, recent franchises that are worthless (I'll sell ya The Suffering/Spy Hunter/Blitz/Area 51 for twenty dollars, ten, two bucks...), and a slim future slate that holds no major promise (oh right, mystery game, ooohhh.). They're in the fix they're in now because they failed to sustain any new franchises since Mortal Kombat (which Acclaim actually did the legwork for making it a major hit at home). No sequels to their beloved titles like Hydro Thunder or Psi-Ops, tepid additions like the latest Rush and Area 51 games. Midway is fucked ten times over. They have been for a long time coming.
I do think they have the talent to turn things around. Their games don't suck(holy shit Psi-Ops was awesome), they've just got ludicrously bad management/bad luck. The most valuable thing they own is probably their rich back catalog of arcade games, but no way would selling off the assets of Midway cover even only 70 mil. If they had ever been smarter about diversifying their stuff, maybe didn't only publish their own internally developed stuff, they might be in a better position then they are now, but coulda, shoulda, woulda, etc.
its still a good opportunity for anybody who wants to get into the videogame biz, and even at their worst, they weren't as good at losing money as say, Brash entertainment or Atari has been. They could get scooped up by a larger company looking to expand into the business. Like Warner Bros. or Disney. But that's just me guessing and I've already put way too much thought and effort into this post already.
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Their games don't suck(holy shit Psi-Ops was awesome), they've just got ludicrously bad management/bad luck.
Sounds about right. A friend of mine that worked on Shaolin Monks mentioned a bunch of horror stories during his time at Midway.
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Sounds about right. A friend of mine that worked on Shaolin Monks mentioned a bunch of horror stories during his time at Midway.
There was also the known troubled developments of Gauntlet:Seven Sorrows and Area 51:Blacksite, which they couldn't contain.
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Their games don't suck(holy shit Psi-Ops was awesome), they've just got ludicrously bad management/bad luck.
Sounds about right. A friend of mine that worked on Shaolin Monks mentioned a bunch of horror stories during his time at Midway.
Like what?
I find it so hard to believe given how dominant Midway was 2 and 3 gens ago.
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There were even pretty dominant last gen with Mortal Kombat and their arcade treasure releases.
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Their games don't suck(holy shit Psi-Ops was awesome), they've just got ludicrously bad management/bad luck.
Sounds about right. A friend of mine that worked on Shaolin Monks mentioned a bunch of horror stories during his time at Midway.
Like what?
I find it so hard to believe given how dominant Midway was 2 and 3 gens ago.
It was the same way with Acclaim; they went from top dogs to auctioning off their IPs on Ebay.
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This game needs to be on PSN/XBLA, like, nao. :-*
(http://www.arcadeflyers.com/flyers_video/midwayg/61501002.jpg)
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I wonder if The Suffering movie will still be made.
they could actually just use the title for a documentary about midway's business fortunes
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considering Midway has so far failed to get a Spy Hunter or Wheelman or Area 51 (http://movies.about.com/od/moviesinproduction/a/area51083104.htm)movie made (did I miss any?) I wouldn't hold out hope for a Suffering movie.
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Spy Hunter was actually made, and was getting promotion, but they shelve it a month before release :lol
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Spy Hunter was actually made, and was getting promotion, but they shelve it a month before release :lol
they had a finished script, financing, distribution deal, tenative release date, and Universal's full backing. I have no idea how the movie didn't get made. Since Universal was dumb enough to make Doom: the movie, I'm gonna put the blame on Midway.I know, but they recently announced that Chiwetel would star so I have faith.
source please. Although Ejiofor is easily one of the best actors working today and I'd love to see him in pretty much anything, this sounds a little strange considering his career trajectory so far.Isn't there a new MK movie in the production phase?
there was. The project is currently dead as Paul WS Anderson (producer) upgraded from video game movies to Roger Corman remakes.
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Isn't there a new MK movie in the production phase?
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The Rock was signed on to be the lead in Spy Hunter right?
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Midway brought over Shadow Hearts Covenant :bow
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Cyber Monday :bow2
HUGE LOL.
Thread win.
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Midway has suffered from legacy management which failed to make the transition from arcade to home console systems. The teams also tended to be fairly competitive and secretive, so technology and knowledge-sharing were also not part of the company culture.
Personally I think there are a lot of franchises in their portfolio which could be adapted really well to next-gen systems, or even given decent BASIC updates and launched on XBLA or PSN. Foregoing that, you'd think that VIACOM could have taken better advantage of owning their own videogame company, and could have sent some open properties to Midway for easy licensed titles.
Just one missed opportunity after another, there. Perhaps its for the best. I mean, who wants to play a full remake of NARC or Smash TV? Oh, wait, I do...
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Have to agree with chronovore on this one. Midway was never the same after it quit making arcade games and focused on the console.
Hell, Acclaim wasn't the same either after it quit making Midway's games for the SNES/Genesis.
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Apparently this change of ownership created a chain reaction that may make Midway have to pay off about $240 million (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fri-midway-mwy-dec05,0,967110.story) of debt by April. I don't think any one company has IP's worth that much.
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Just think how much the Madden franchise would be worth, OMG. Just update the roster and watch the money flow in.
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The world needs a new San Francisco Rush
That isn't all shitty like the one they made :(
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um...there are plenty
Other than massive publishers like EA or Ubisoft I mean.
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The world needs a new San Francisco Rush
That isn't all shitty like the one they made :(
BURNOUT series has completely supplanted anything Rush /might/ have become.
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Hmmmm. Windfall:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/midway-stake-holder-to-reap-windfall-from-debt-repayments
"Midway's elusive new majority stakeholder, Mark Thomas, stands to gain around USD 30 million from debt repayments made by the beleaguered publisher."
I also like the phrase "elusive new majority stakeholder" - maybe I'll apply that one to myself some day.
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Yes... HE IS ELUSIVE!
Maybe the point is there are SO MANY Mark Thomases in the world, no-one is sure which one it is?
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I'm thinking he's a speculation investor who knew what the situation would be and just moved in to take advantage of it. Probably someone who does this for a living, which is pretty much parasitic. But clever.