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Midway bleeding execs, staff, and TV ads

By Stevie Smith Jan 16, 2008, 10:23 GMT

Is an ongoing lack of overwhelming success taking its toll on videogame publisher Midway? Stranglehold failed to provide Midway with a huge hit property in 2007. Credit: Midway.

Stranglehold failed to provide Midway with a huge hit property in 2007. Credit: Midway.Current actions taken by the Chicago-based company could certainly be interpreted that way, especially when considering the somewhat luck warm critical and consumer reception that met the likes of Stranglehold and BlackSite: Area 51 in the latter half of 2007.This week Midway has revealed that a number of staff working out of its Austin studio are to be laid off - in what the company refers to as a strictly routine and minor action based on the completion of a project at the Texan studio."We are still growing our other teams and studios to fulfil our project needs," outlined a Midway representative while speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, "The reductions were routine and a function of our current project requirements."The staff losses follow hot on the heels of Midway parting company with a pair of senior players, namely executive vice president and CFO Thomas Powell, who is moving on to another company, and also senior vice president Steve Allison, who will be stepping down at the close of March.Routine shake up or not, there’s no denying that Midway, despite enjoying more notable success as of late with Unreal Tournament III, didn’t manage to leave a significantly influential mark on 2007 as a whole. Specifically, two of Midway’s three main software offerings - Stranglehold and BlackSite: Area 51 - failed to meet expectation during a boon year for software that saw the likes of BioShock, Mass Effect, Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Halo 3, and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune all jostling for positing as potential ‘Game of the Year’ nominees. In related news, Midway has also suffered an advertising blow this week following a decision by the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to act on viewer complaints and ban a violent television commercial for John Woo Presents: Stranglehold.

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