The publisher has been having a rough time of it, in fact ever since 1999. CEO Matt Booty announced plans to axe 10% of their global staff - Austin studio is hit hard.
Nearly 70% of staff at the studio in Austin have been made redundant and open-world project ‘Criminal’ gets the Booty boot too, an inside tipster tells Kotaku.
”While this was a very difficult decision, we feel it was the right thing to do for the future of Midway,” Booty said. ”We view every game as an investment that must meet certain standards for quality, scheduling, and profitability.”
Two ”ambitious open-world games” were announced in October 07 with the first unveiled as Surreal Software’s ‘This Is Vegas’ coming to PC and next-gen consoles.
Some bigwigs have already departed from Midway’s Chicago offices, including the studio head Mike Bilder. Midway’s finances are in a sorry state of affairs and drastic action must be taken if they plan on keeping anyone at all.
Midway confirmed the sullen news but stated this would ”allow Midway to maximize its development resources and apply manpower and capital to projects with the highest chances of success.”
Source: Kotaku
