UK studio shut down and put into insolvency by American owners this morning
Its management team tried to fight it off, but the collapse of Midway has finally caught up with its Newcastle studio - and today it was put into administration.
Develop understands that Midway CEO himself Matt Booty broke the news to the team this morning, and that HR and an insolvency team were on hand to close the studio as soon as possible.
Emotions are apparently running high at the studio in the Northern city, and understandably so.
Studio head Craig Duncan revealed to Develop just weeks ago that he was working around the clock to find a buyer for the studio, after it became clear that it was not wanted by Midway acquirer Warner Bros.
“My focus is 100 per cent on finding a buyer. Every studio head will say it, but this is team that’s just too good to be wasted," he said at the time.
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Warner's buy of the publisher was completed just days ago, and gave it ownership of IP including Mortal Kombat and select studios - but not the San Diego or Newcastle teams.
The latter had specifically taken to guerilla marketing duties for their new game, the interesting new action IP Necessary Force (pictured), in a bid to drum up interest ahead of the closure deadline set by its parent firm.
Midway Newcastle's The Wheelman was released earlier this year to decent sales.
Fingers crossed that the 70-odd staff members now left without a job aren't facing unemployment for too long - the North East games development sector in the UK is full of busy studios, and hopefully they will find new homes soon. Develop understands that team in Newcastle is welcoming other studios to arrange open days for those looking to find new recruits.
The fate of Midway's San Diego team is not yet officially known.
It's a shame to see the studio closed, I met one or two people from there so it's a really shame to hear it close.
The lads at Newcastle were well and truley stuffed today by Matt Booty and his team , they were all due to be paid tomorrow and have been told that theres no money to be given out to them at all after working for the past 2 weeks on the pretense that they were going to get money at the end of the month.
Terrible news. Hope everyone finds new jobs ASAP.
"the North East games development sector in the UK is full of busy studios"
If by that you mean the NE sector is slowly but surely disappearing as the talent pool is forced to drift off to pastures new.
All the best to the staff in finding new work.
Shameful. Another nail in the coffin of the British games industry. Good luck to all those affected.
I'd like to know if TIGA tried to assist with finding a buyer. Anyone?
PS - Jimmy Chew. They actually get paid mid month, two weeks in advance and two weeks in arrears. So they've not lost money for the last two weeks, but they HAVE lost any redundancy monies.
Your right they do work 2 weeks arrears, 2 weeks in advance so that means they have been working since the 1st July until today hoping to get paid 2 weeks worth of salary at least..but a day before payday they were told that theres no money to be paid!.
Actually, from what I heard the London office will be getting paid - can anyone confirm that? Obviously the London office is a lot smaller, but it still sucks that they're paying London but not Newcastle on the basis that they're technically two different companies.
Hi There,
I am ( as of today ) a ex Midway Studios Newcastle staff member..we were told in the closure breifing that the London staff are getting paid but the Newcastle staff are not even though we have been working for the past 2 weeks and due for payment tomorrow.
Yep, no redundancy, no holiday pay and no paid notice.
Because we got money from London who have over £10 million in reserves they were able to be put into proper redundancy where we are by law unable to generate our own funds, the scum sucking creditors that Midway owed money to wanted us liquidated so they could get money from the assets left in the studio.
Also by doing it the completely disgusting way by feigning bankruptcy they don't have to pay us anything and we will have to fight to claim it back from the government which can take up to 2 months.
There people here who have almost nothing and no income for 2 months is destroying
Is the moral of the story that if your company is probably going to go under, you're probably better off getting made redundant for nicking office equipment rather than trust head office?
They made pretty poor games and Ubisoft Refections will be gone next year as well so no more North East games development.
What makes you think they will go?
Exactly. What you said.
Good luck to you guys.
Quite shocking really, but also sadly unsurprising. We've been fighting, and fighting to try and not have this happen. We tried our hardest with Necessary Force and other projects to try and save the studio. Sadly the suits ruined it all for us - the same way they've ruined the economy, and everything else which affects us.
Some people out of this will get very rich. It seems a shame the people who are the most affected are the people who were the lifeblood of the studio.
Oh, and PJ, here's another acronym for you - STFU.
1) Set up 2 companies, keep all money in company A, keep staff in company B, pay staff in company B with money from company A.
2 )Now, when you want to get rid of all your staff without paying redundancy, paid notice or owed holidays simply make company B insolvent the day before pay day.
3) Profit! Now you are free to take the £10 million you have in company A while the staff at company B get nothing.
Sorry to hear the news, as an Empire ex staffer I understand what you are going through, we went through the same except we did not get paid for 2 months. The suits flogged the assets through a so called third party and then the VP got a job with the company setting up the new Euro op. To them the staff dont matter, they are just an item on a debit sheet to be deleted so the suits can show the banks and investors that they have saved monies.
I wish you all the best but it is time those running the games companies and representing them starting looking at what is happening with the way staff are treated.
This is very sad, but I think we all saw it coming. If any ex Midway staff need any help with finding new positions get in touch - I recruit for the industry and work with a number of NE studios.
alex[dot]wright-manning[at]mortimerspinks[dot]com
Just a note to say that this team was exceptional and I hope they all find opportunities very soon.
To other studios: If you get a chance, hire or work with any of the Midway Newcastle guys you can. They are all very talented, committed and dedicated individuals. We put a lot of effort into the studio about making games the right way and working hard for each other as a team, each and every one of them will take this forward with them.
As the Chief of the studio it is a wrong and premature end to a great studio going in the right direction. This team has been to hell and back in dealing with the ongoing Midway situation, shipping Wheelman to solid success (which was tough) and creating an amazing well thought out new IP in Necessary Force.
I'm sure the guys will go onto great things and they all have my thanks for the commitment and professionalism shown throughout the time I managed them.
CD
Just wanted to say I know exactly what you guys are going through (I'm ex-Acclaim, we didn't get paid for the last month worked and it all blew up overnight, though we knew we were on the ropes for months..)
Best of luck to all, make sure you claim what you're entitled to from the government (statutory redundancy thingy - takes a couple of months to come through, but was better than nothing).
If there was a Union for Video Game workers would corporations be able to get away with this sort of thing.....probably.
Dood, I've thought about this a lot before. The problem with software development is that it's a knowledge industry - it's VERY easy to up sticks and move your business elsewhere. Well, relatively speaking. I suspect if the games industry here somehow became unionised then the bigger studios would simply move overseas. I understand that's one reason why London has become such a huge hub for FX and the movie industry - I hear the unions in LA are VERY strong and so a lot of work has moved to here where we have a ...cough... "flexible workforce".
So yeah, the idea of a union works in principle (maybe, if you like that sort of thing - I personally do, but not everyone's as left wing as me:)). But in practice it would just lead to even more ...another cough... off-shoring and work going overseas generally.
It does seem though that developers here don't have anyone to speak for them. I don't mean studios - they've got TIGA. But I mean for individuals there seems to be nothing.
Personally, I think outsourcing offshore is a bad thing - all it's doing is taking jobs away from you guys. I see TIGA thinks it's a good idea though. Here's a question: how many art producers, if they were starting out as young grads today, would still get a job as junior artists here? Some, I grant, but I bet a surprising number wouldn't. Offshoring is cutting the throat of tomorrow's artists in this county, IMHO. The industry here is in trouble, and a lot more trouble than TIGA lets on.
As for the Midway situation, I've spoken with a bunch of the guys the last 24 hours and I'm sure most of you will find something. Sounds like a lot of studios have already been in to see you, so god luck with it all.
To the ex Empire staffer. Empire. Gah. Now THERE'S a story!
So sorry to hear you guys are going through this. It's definitely never a pleasant experience! I've been through the same thing before also with Midway.
I'm a strong believer that things happen for a reason, and you guys will fall into better opportunities. The worst part about a closure is the loss of your team culture.
Met a few of the guys a few months ago. I wish you all luck in getting new employment soon.
