Beleaguered video game-maker Midway Games Inc. said Tuesday that its third quarter will be considerably worse than expected because of a delay in shipping “Stranglehold,” a key new title.
Chicago-based Midway said third-quarter revenue will be about $39 million, instead of around $50 million as originally forecast. The company expects to lose 33 cents per share, worse than its earlier estimated loss of 23 cents per share.
Midway hasn’t posted an annual profit since 1999. The company has been hoping that “Stranglehold” and other new games will finally reverse that trend.
“Stranglehold” is Midway’s first big production for a new generation of PlayStation and Xbox game consoles. The game is set in Chicago and Hong Kong and is filled with the fighting and gunplay featured in “Hard Boiled,” a 1992 action movie directed by John Woo, who also helped create “Stranglehold’s” story line.
Versions of the new game for personal computers and the Xbox 360 were shipped as planned last month, said Reilly Brennan, a Midway spokesman. But the company delayed shipments of the PlayStation 3 version of “Stranglehold” until the fourth quarter.
Brennan said there were “some development issues.”
“We want to make the game the best that it can be,” he said.
Midway also revised its forecasts for the entire year because other games will also be launched later than expected.
“Unreal Tournament 3” for PlayStation 3 won’t be available in the fourth quarter as planned, instead shipping in the first quarter of 2008. Meanwhile, “BlackSite: Area 51” for PlayStation 3 won’t be available in Europe until early next year, instead of during the fourth quarter.
Thus, the firm’s overall revenue for the year is expected to be about $170 million, well below the earlier estimate of $225 million, and Midway’s losses will grow.
The news was released after the market closed Tuesday. In after-hours trading, Midway’s stock was priced at $3.94, down 27 cents.
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mhughlett@tribune.com
