Midway Shaves Q2 Losses, Dates BlackSite, Delays Wheelman

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Midway reported a $14.3 million net loss for the second quarter of fiscal year 2007, down from the company's $31.0 million loss during the same period last year. The cut in losses comes partly from a 22.7 year-over-year increase in sales to $31.8 million, higher than Midway's estimates.

During the earnings conference call, CEO David Zucker gave updates on upcoming titles BlackSite: Area 51 (PC, PS3, X360) and The Wheelman (PC, PS3, X360). Previously set for a September release, BlackSite will now launch across all platforms on November 5 in North America and October 26 in Europe.

Zucker also said The Wheelman, a game based on a movie of the same name featuring Vin Diesel, has been pushed to a 2008 first or second quarter retail window. "We'll be shifting our release of The Wheelman starring Vin Diesel for the first half of 2008 to give our development team more time to turn this ultimate car chase game into what we expect will be a broad impact top notch title," Zucker said.

Despite pushing The Wheelman's release out of the current fiscal year, Zucker said the company would meet its previous fiscal year 2007 guidance of a 36% increase in sales to $225 million. The increased visibility of high profile titles like John Woo's Stranglehold (PC, PS3, X360) and Epic's Unreal Tournament 3 (PC, PS3) will make up for the loss of the Diesel-powered game, Zucker said.

The shift to current gen consoles has proved a costly one for Midway, with several quarters of net losses pushing realizable gains further down the road. "Our goal is to get to profitability as early as possible in this next cycle," Zucker added.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    August 2, 2007 12:37 PM

    Smart move to get Area 51:Blacksite out of the way of that little Halo 3 game.

    • reply
      August 2, 2007 12:53 PM

      Unfortunately it's still going to get lost in the torrent of FPS and other quality titles like Mass Effect coming out between now and Xmas.

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