Midway halves Q2 losses, delays BlackSite, Wheelman

Publisher cuts shortfall to $14.3 million on heels of Wii Mortal Kombat and Lord of the Rings Online launches; sci-fi shooter pushed to November 5, Vin Diesel vehicle now due in '08.

Though Nintendo continues to reap record profits from the Wii phenomenon, the spring of 2007 will go down as a painful period for many third-party publishers. Yesterday, THQ and Electronic Arts both reported losses for the April-June quarter. Today, Midway Games followed suit, reporting a $14.3 million net loss on $31.8 million of net revenue for a $0.16 loss per share. That's less than half the $31 million the Chicago-based publisher lost during the same period in 2006.

Midway's shortcoming comes on the heels of several high-profile second-quarter launches. With solid reviews, The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar sold over 172,000 copies during the quarter, including the special edition of the game. (GameSpot originally reported erroneous NPD Group data putting the number at 71,000 units, and regrets the error.) Meanwhile, the Wii edition of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon only moved about 38,500 units, and the critically drubbed Hour of Victory sold just 16,456 units at retail domestically.

Unsurprisingly, Midway president and CEO David Zucker stressed Midway's third- and fourth-quarter lineup, which features a trio of the year's most anticipated titles. "The response to our 2007 line-up at E3 was overwhelmingly positive, and we believe this sets the stage for our upcoming releases of Stranglehold, BlackSite: Area 51, and Unreal Tournament 3," he said in a statement.

In an often-frank interview with GameSpot prior to this year's E3, Zucker doggedly dodged questions regarding The Wheelman, which Midway promoted heavily at E3 2006. The reason for that became clear during this morning's postearnings conference call, when Zucker revealed the driving action game had been pushed back to 2008.

The delay removes the Wheelman from the jam-packed 2007 holiday season, which will see dozens of lower-profile games take on such titans as Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, Rock Band, and Crysis. However, Midway also announced it is moving BlackSite: Area 51 into that very fray, bumping it from its September release. "Our expected release dates for BlackSite: Area 51 on all platforms are October 26th in Europe and November 5 in North America," said Zucker, who also promised a "full demo in the next few months for Xbox Live, PS3 and PC."

Speaking with analysts, Zucker portrayed the delays as part of Midway's long-term next-generation push, which he said will kick off with Strangehold's release on August 27. "We believe we're putting in place the systems, tools, processes and talents for high-developed high-quality next generation games spanning a wide variety of mass market genres," he said, promising more 2008 announcements soon.

80 Comments

  • poseidion

    Posted Sep 26, 2007 9:19 am PT

    I'm definitely buying The Wheelman........... when its price drops to $20 or less.

  • shawn7324

    Posted Aug 19, 2007 2:44 am PT

    I was really looking forward to Blacksite in Sept.

  • KyanMehwulfe

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 11:53 pm PT

    172k for LOTRO? I expected somewhat more than that, but it's still pretty good for a MMO (WoW is basically apple to oranges; Blizzard's brand changes all things sales).

  • rokkuman09

    Posted Aug 5, 2007 7:19 pm PT

    Blacksite is going to be great, I have played the demo and although it was short was left very impressed, it's going to be a really fun shooter.. I have played the demo maybe five times... I just can't wait for this game.. But if the delay means a overall better and more well polished game, then I don't care.

  • klasco

    Posted Aug 4, 2007 4:29 am PT

    Games like Hour of Victory are pointless they are just another World War 2 game there's too many already they should do what Call of Duty 4 did move on to modern shooter or do that and add aliens some plots etc or even make a game called Gangester of the Hood 5 the next step for call of duty 4 lol

  • LEATHERFACE1550

    Posted Aug 3, 2007 9:36 pm PT

    HOUR OF VICTORY WAS HORRIBLE THEY SHOULD FEEL ASHAMED OF THEM SELFS REALESING A GAME LIKE THAT LOL

  • kingeric420

    Posted Aug 3, 2007 2:57 pm PT

    All I know is there were 16,456 people who didn't play the Hour of Victory demo before they bought the game. Talk about a waste of money!

  • lamprey263

    Posted Aug 3, 2007 12:54 pm PT

    I think their worst mistake was putting out an Hour of Victory demo. Jeez, I guess they didn't know how to release a crappy game, which is it's like releasing a crappy movie; you don't give it to anybody to review before release.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Aug 3, 2007 8:23 am PT

    Too bad Wheelmand is in 2008. I guess it is a smart move though considering all the games in 07.

  • Maluk

    Posted Aug 3, 2007 7:39 am PT

    The only reason I rented HoV was to see how bad it was, and wow, it was freakin' horrible. Unless you're an achievement whore, then it's good, lol. Bery easy achievements, but $60 easy achievements, pfff.

  • ManOfTeal

    Posted Aug 3, 2007 7:08 am PT

    These third-party publishers that keep losing money should ramp up their production on games for the Wii. That seems the way to go right now.

  • rafarmer

    Posted Aug 3, 2007 3:52 am PT

    dmdavenport, we did get The Darkness, which was pretty good this summer. Plus the graphics have a similar feel to Prey, which is kinda uncanny.

  • edroc23

    Posted Aug 3, 2007 3:36 am PT

    Oh well area 51 looks like it will suck.

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Aug 3, 2007 1:47 am PT

    Looks like Hour of Victory didn't help them much....

  • jacob-goodlich

    Posted Aug 3, 2007 1:04 am PT

    who cares!!, nothing else matters now that gta 4 is delayed that was my reason to live, i hate it soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • MichaeltheCM

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 11:35 pm PT

    thats weird. u think they would have record profits as well...

  • MichaeltheCM

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 11:22 pm PT

    dang that sucks

  • Sagacious_Tien

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 8:37 pm PT

    They should get some more money via LOTRO, as it is an awesome game. Stranglehold and UT3 are certain to help their bottom line.

  • WarGameJunkie

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 7:28 pm PT

    This game's sales just got the kiss of death by its own publisher. This game could have sold very well if it came out BEFORE the big boys because there's nothing else to play. Even with the GTA IV delay there's Halo 3, Guitar Hero 3 and other games to totally overshadow this. This game will probably be good, but with everybody on the 360 focused on Halo 3, there's no way sales are going to be nearly as strong as if they'd made the September date.

  • DNOMYTE

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 6:28 pm PT

    This delay aint so bad, I am curious as to whether they have anything on the MK though

  • HVPinc

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 5:47 pm PT

    Good. I'm glad they delayed. To many good games are coming out to close to eachother. After such a rush there will be a drought. I don't want a drought!

  • Sacred-Snow

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 5:43 pm PT

    Blacksite: Area 51 will be a good game, but up agaisnt the 'titans' it won't be good. Not at all. UT3 will eb fun though.

  • ptown58

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 3:37 pm PT

    Delay delay delay, there are so many games being delayed is this the new hype building fad ?

  • decebal

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 2:52 pm PT

    @ski11buzz " Blacksite: Area 51 doesnt even look that good especially with other games coming out around the same time. i dont think that it will sell that well. however UT3 is going to be the S**T"

    It's SAD people still buy games because of how they look.

  • EarthThatWas

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 2:34 pm PT

    They used the Unreal engine on HoV? I figured they just used a light bright and an etch-a-sketch.

  • tomjay31

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 2:30 pm PT

    this angers me so. it makes no sense to me why games are spaced out here and there throughout the 1/2 the year. there are so many games coming out between August and November, that even more publishers are going to come up short. i was really looking forward to and waiting for Blacksite. Now its going to suffer due to Halo 3, Army of Two, Call of Duty 4 and TimeShift. Oh well

  • DoubleC3PO

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 2:28 pm PT

    Don't know too much about wheelman(Vin Diesel game?) But Blacksite being moved to November was pretty much a DEATH sentence for that title

  • EnderSR388

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 2:08 pm PT

    Yeah, I can see Blacksite becoming the new Project Snowblind. Reason being, both are released AFTER Halo. Project Snowblind was a really fun game, but since it was released in the wake of Halo 2, not very many people played it. I still have my copy for the XBOX that I play to this day. Too bad Midway didn't learn from Eidos: DON'T FOLLOW HALO!!!

  • True_Blu3

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 2:08 pm PT

    My god, what are gamers even supposed to do to play all these freaking games this holiday season!!!

    Seriously developers, if you want our money do bad, insert your game's release dates earlier or later so we can save up money to buy each one in order. Most of us can't buy all these games at the same time. Sheesh!

  • red_x2004

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 2:08 pm PT

    Its not looking good for MIDWAY, taking a look back at the awful Hour of Victory,but they do have good looking anticipated games at the end of the month,like Stronghold,other than that we got to wait until Nov 5, for BlackSite: Area 51,and i think we all know that it was going to be Released on September.

  • Beaglesniffer

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 1:48 pm PT

    yup console gamers are gnna be poor for the christmas period lol

  • comelstr

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 1:48 pm PT

    am i the only 1 who liked HoV

  • zapper188

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 1:18 pm PT

    Jesus that's gonna be 2 months absolutely packed full of pure gaming heaven. No, wait 3 months.
    Bloudey hell though..

    Area 51:Blacksite
    Stranglehold
    Halo 3
    GTA IV
    Mass Effect
    Bioshock(Maybe)
    Assasins Creed

    I am gonna be poor
    Also Area 51:Blacksite's Demo was pretty decent and the ending was so cool.

    Only problem is, it will be lost in the rush of the release of all these games which have been promoted HEAVILY.
    A release in say, January 2008 would of been a much better idea.
    Release it after the hectic christmas where everyone is either playing to death or bored of there games and needs something different, A great game not yet released.
    And there would be Blacksite:are 51

    Bad move really

  • Chirico_Cuvie

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 1:06 pm PT

    Midway is the new Akklaim.

  • dukerav

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:52 pm PT

    One thing is for certain, Hour of Victory most certainly did not help them whatsoever. I rank HoV right up there with SuperMan 64 as one of the worst games ever made. Now if you will excuse me while I try to purge those two games from my mind forever. Oh and yes releasing Blacksite in November is indeed a bad move, especially with all the games that will already be out at that time and the ones after that month. I don't have very high hopes for the game to be quite honest, I downloaded HoV and Blacksite demos the same day, and to be quite honest, was not too impressed with either, although B S was the better of the two. Its a shame when someone is given an engine such as URE III and the end result becomes HoV, worst use of the engine ever. Here's to looking forward to Unreal Tournament III

  • yian

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:48 pm PT

    Haven't heard anything big from THQ since Red Faction. Then again, I don't pay attention to these things much.

  • yaminoshadow

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:47 pm PT

    I'm surprised that hour of victory even made it past 1000 sales! *shocking*

  • ultima-flare

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:29 pm PT

    yay for midway

  • Crusade_17

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:29 pm PT

    lets c blacksite was to be released in the month of halo.....very bad...now it gets pushed to nov were mass effect and assassin's creed comes out???? Also very bad

  • Pete5506

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:29 pm PT

    Dang we have to wait for 51

  • dmdavenport

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:27 pm PT

    Why are all of these games being released in the fall/winter? We could've used a "Prey" this summer and didn't get one. Now BlackSite is going to get lost in the shuffle, and it looked like it might be a good game. Midway would be better off releasing BlackSite in the spring. Nobody will be playing this game in November.

  • HALOISTHEBEST26

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:20 pm PT

    i can safely say that hour of victory is the worst game ever created, how can you create something like that and expect it to sell? i think they should have realized what was going to happen early into it and scrapped the project.

  • robertd1138

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:18 pm PT

    Considering it probably only took about 2 people to slap some Waggle Controls on MKWii, I would think 40,000 copies would be pretty decent. Personally though, I think they either need to give the franchise a complete overhaul or leave it buried. It is pretty bad when most people consider Mortal Kombat 2 the best ot the series.

  • robotecha5

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:16 pm PT

    Thats too bad for Blacksite I really enjoyed the teaser Demo. Seems like a solid AA game. But Im gonna have to pass since its coming out so close to a-lot of much better looking games.

  • kevy619

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:08 pm PT

    "WillT12345

    Hour of Victory sold just 16,456

    16,456 idiots one of which is a friend of mine. There was a crap demo, and about a million reviews say RUN. This pretty much says, make a WWII shooter and its a guaranty you will sell at least 16,000 copies."

    My local Blockbuster had every copy rented out a day after release... unbelievable

  • dwmorrow

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:05 pm PT

    The last Mortal Kombat game sucked. I bought the PS2 version for $20 and it wasn't even worth that much. Glad I didn't wait for the Wii version.

  • Pedro7_2000

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 12:03 pm PT

    I'm still looking forward to BlackSite. At least we'll get a deeper demo to tide us over.

  • turaaggeli

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 11:59 am PT

    Hell no!

  • WillT12345

    Posted Aug 2, 2007 11:58 am PT

    Hour of Victory sold just 16,456

    16,456 idiots one of which is a friend of mine. There was a crap demo, and about a million reviews say RUN. This pretty much says, make a WWII shooter and its a guaranty you will sell at least 16,000 copies.

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