Midway Newcastle Struggles for Life

Midway Newcastle was busy up until March 2009 working on the publisher's latest big title: The Wheelman starring Vin Diesel. The game released to a lukewarm reception, and coupled with Midway's current state of fiscal bankruptcy, the British studio finds itself on very tenuous ground.

While Warner Bros. has tendered an offer of $33 million for Midway, neither the Newcastle nor San Diego studios are part of that agreement. The rules of chapter 11 bankruptcy state that either a buyer or investor must be found by June 30, or the studios will be forced to shut down.

Despite what's stacked against Midway Newcastle, the team is pressing on and working on a new project. While only a few have left the studio at this point, the drop dead date looms large in everyone's minds. "The heartbreaking thing for me is having people come to me and tell me they are talking to another company about a job because of the situation, but they don't want to leave the studio, and if the studio goes forward they will stay," said Studio Head Craig Duncan to the Guardian.

"I think given the severity of the situation all you can be is honest with the staff about what is happening to the company," he added. "You have let them know how the situation is likely to play out, how it affects them and what we are trying to do as a management team to help. Good leadership is crucial in difficult times."

Still, Duncan thinks there's reason to be optimistic, given that he showed the open-world game off at E3 and got some positive feedback. "I met with a number of interested parties," he said. "When we presented the new game everyone loved it and was really impressed with our proposition. What counts against us is the timeframe and the fact the market is tough currently for both investors and games companies... if I had 100,000 pounds for every time someone said, 'a year ago we would have bought you', I could buy the studio personally."

Despite having only two weeks before the deadline, the team is still believing in their project rather than worrying about contingencies. "100 percent of my efforts and focus are on finding a solution to keep the studio going forward, making it viable and securing jobs in the team," says Duncan. "It may sound like a [soccer] cliche but this studio is too good a team to have to shut down – it would be a travesty."

It's sad to seek folks put out of work like this, so we hope that Midway Newcastle finds an investor or that their employees find new jobs quickly.