Midway Sealed its Fate: 'Stranglehold' Won't Ease the Pain, Says Analyst

Video-game publisher Midway Games (MWY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) may have just sealed its fate.
Stranglehold, the company's biggest release of the year, debuted Wednesday to lackluster reviews, dashing any remaining investor hope that Midway might halt its descent into obscurity.

But with Stranglehold's stumble, the outlook for investors could turn bleak. Poor game sales could kill hopes that the company may turn the title into a franchise. Midway still has its long-running Mortal Kombat and Unreal Tournament franchise

[MK_Red]

"Stranglehold, the company's biggest release of the year" What!? What about Unreal Tournoment 3? UT3 is one of the biggest games of 2007.

Midway should put its all effort into making fewer but better games (Instead of making a crappy WW2 shooter and many other games as fast as it can).
Now, they should put all their money and effort into making of Mortal Kombat 8 and make MK the icon it was back in 1995.

[ISay]

7 and 8's for a movie based game is respectable the game will do great good reviews dont mean good sales(ex. transformers,cars, harry potter, any pokymon game) and stranglehold falls in this category people know john woo itll be fine plus who was expecting better than this i wasn't

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Wow they consider this more important then Unreal tournament 3? Chances are Unreal will rape strangleholds sales.

[xaphanze]

UT3 will save Midway

[MK_Red]

Agreed but don't forget about Mortal Kombat 8 for PS3 & 360. The year old, M rated MK:Armageddon had good sales on Wii! I can't wait to see next-gen bloody fatalities in HD, powered by Unreal Engine 3 (Yes, MK8 is using UE3, The first fighting game for Unreal Engine)

[lonestarmt]

MK_Red, what american made game isn't using the Unreal system to make thier games? I just hope people don't only depend on Unreal and start making things for themselves.

[MK_Red]

lonestarmt, you've got a point. Good one :)

Hopefully MK8 is one of the games that uses UE3 in a good way (Like BioShock) and not the way Hour Of Victory or BlackSite did (Though BlackSite still has chance).

[BloodySinner]

BlackSite is just another first person shooter. It will get shadowed by other great titles.

[i Shank u]

damn bloodysinner you know alot. can you tell me tomorrows lotto #'s please?

[BloodySinner]

Is that sarcasm?

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

Did Stranglehold really get horrible reviews? I thought it got 8's and 7's. That's bad these days?

[MK_Red]

Agreed. It's average is 7.5 and it got 8.1 from IGN (Above 8 is considered Great by many sites) and solid scores from EuroGamer and GameSpy.

[lonestarmt]

I think gamers have gotten totally fickle. Strangle hold has been getting 7, and 8. Its like if its not a AAA then I'm not playing, I'm too much of a game master to play it. If its fun, play it. DW gundam is getting sub par reviews but I freaking love it. Let the elitist thoughts go and play it if it looks good to you!

[BloodySinner]

You know, most people work hard for their money. I wouldn't want a spend $60 for a 7.5/10 title.

[lonestarmt]

missing my point. If the game gets a 4 or 5 you need to reconsider, but its all based on what you prefer. I have my taste and take what the reviewers say, but I'm not going to let someone else tell me what I should be playing. If you hate JRPGs you most likely won't like odin sphere, wild arms 5, xenosaga, you may not give those games a higher score. Plus you know dang well that if halo 3 got bad reviews, (not saying it will), people will buy it and love it. I like to call it the dynasty warrior effect. lol

[i Shank u]

i thought reviews in 7-8 range aren't a disaster, do people look to games to change their lives or somethin/? id buy stranglehold, not at full price tho, and i think the ps3 special edition is almost a must buy, movie and game about the same character, same disc, is badass

[BloodySinner]

I did not miss anything. All I'm saying is that most gamers won't spend $60 (full price) on a title that has an average rating of 7.5-8. They might wait a bit for a price cut or a special offer before trying it out.

[Excalibur]

Is a pretty decent game, I'd give it a solid 8.

[i Shank u]

agreed, solid 8. the presentation of the cutscenes and in game stuff is good

[xaphanze]

I consider buying games when they get above 8. If Im into the genre, I buy it for sure.

[crck]

And Hour of Victory was complete garbage. But Blacksite seems to be a solid shooter and UT3 will do very well.

[ktchong]

not this fiscal year anyway.

UT3 is a M-rated FPS, which means it won't fly in Japan, and it will have troubles with the censor in EU. (And we don't even know if Midway is the distributor for UT3 in Japan and EU.) So, UT3's bread-and-butter is right here in the North American market. Americans are UT3's core customers.

As it stands now, PS3 has about 2 million units in North America. How many UT3 copies will 2 million PS3's sell? How many people are going to buy a PS3 for UT3 - when they already know that the Xbox 360 and PC versions are coming out in just a few months? So, the initial sales of UT3, at least for the 2007 fiscal year, will be limited by the small install base in North America. Sales will pick up later when PS3 sells more units down the road... but Midway needs the sales this fiscal year, or it won't survive past this year.

Midway is in deep trouble.

[VaeVictus]

I thought the PC version of UT3 came out the same time as the PS3 version? PC version is where midway is going to make it's money.

[Seafort]

I've bought all the UT on PC and i'm from UK. So your comments about US being the core customers is complete crap.

UT3 is on PC and PS3 this year and x360 sometime next year. How else are PS3 gamers gonna add user mods without the PC mod community?

Thats M$ fault not midway or epic.
Their paranoid closed system on the xbox is pathetic. If only their OS's had the same paranoid security they might actually be secure OS's hehe.

And the millions of PC gamers around the world awaiting the next UT arent taken into consideration?

[crck]

Its a shame your blinded by your fanboyism. At this same time last year MS had only sold 2.7 million 360 units total in North America. More, yes but a lot more? Not really. The 360 as do all consoles sell a ton more during the Holiday season. With the added advantage of PC sales UT 3 will do fine even if it isn't on the 360.

[SabreMan]

what is it with some people do they honestly think the USA is the only country in the world or the only country that has gamers who buy consoles.

Seriously do you live on another planet to the rest of us ???

open your eyes and you might see a bigger picture

UT is a massive franchise on the pc and will sell hundreds of thousands of copies, i also expect it will do rather well on the ps3

[360theAssasinsCreed]

i really like the precision aiming feature in the demo it was a nice touch to add to a shooter now it doesn't make the game the best ever, but i loved the demo and will purchase the game upon release. I can see though were some people would find the game nothing that special but it felt to be well built and had a cinematic feel to it which i enjoyed. Well i guess time will tell on this game based on the number of sales it generates.

Personally though i do believe midway needs to step it up a little bit more they simply cannot rely on unreal tournament and mortal kombat that's for sure but stranglehold is a nice step forward i feel anyway.

I personally don't want to see any developers go under the more the merrier i say because the more there are the more game choices there will be but that is obvious.

[JPomper]

Stranglehold is a lot of fun. If only they had spent more time on the multiplayer it would've sold more.

[Hugh Hefner]

First, the game has been scoring mostly 8s. For a movie-based unhyped game this is pretty good. Second, he is underestimating the software-buying appetitte that 360 owners have.

[razer]

Please release a a next-gen version of Psi-Ops!

You ended the first game with a cliffhanger and I won' be forgiving you until you finish the story..

=)

[doublertist]

i have to say that the graphics arent very impressive...i would say hi quality ps2 or xbox title...but definitly not a ps3 or 360 worthy game...the controlls are good but the game is basically an asian max payne, with an even dumber storyline and dialogue that monkeys could write... i dont know...if i had to review it off of the demo i would give it a solid 6 because the fun factor of the game saves it but the story and the graphics are pretty disappointing

[Goshyujin_Sama]

Max Payne rip of with low production values, cant play this game when so many other great titles are out and on the way....Maybe this game could fly on wii by utilizing the wii-mote like RE4 did. But for the ps3/360, nawww, the gfx are so lazy, like double said, a polished ps2/xbox 1.0 game at best. Also the demo did not impress. Also UT3 will be freaking epic and @round peg, its not coming out for 360 just a few mnths later, its more like 8mnts to a year later, so yea chew on thAT. also it will sale great in the US, UK, and in Japan. RE4 along with other M titles sold outragious amouts world wide, and UT3 is no acception. It will own very well. Next to no one in Japan owns a 360 and hardly any of them drool over its AAA titles. Blue Dragon sold way more copies than BioShock in japan so I mean what is your point? They are a difeerent audiance but they support games that they like. I was just in Japan and saw UT3 commercials myslef running on the PS3 at nearly every Yodobashi Camera store that I went to. If any game is going to save Midway, its UT3, and it will sale at AAA status world wide. An M rating, dont make me lol round PEg, ur such a n00blet!

[jackdoe]

UT 3 isn't even counted. In my eyes, it is more anticipated than Stranglehold. I love Hard Boiled, but lets face it. It caters to a very niche audience that loves HK flicks. I fit into that but not a lot of people do. That analyst is a dumbass.

[JPomper]

That is absolutely retarded saying that the graphics are like polished last-gen. I'd suggest you go to a last gen game and actually get a reference point.

I'd say the game looks just as good as Gears. Not as stylized perhaps, but the quality is there.

[doublertist]

are you or your eye doctor on drugs? i said the game has good game play but you obviously are blinded by denial...the graphics in no way form anything worthwhile this gen...

heres my reference point...MAX PAYNE 2... stranglehold looks dead on it graphically and gameplay is also exactly the same

the quality of gameplay is there but story and depth is not...plain and simple

[Goshyujin_Sama]

There goes your credability, Gears won award after award for its GFX and truely showed what a next gen consol can produce when devs use it to its fullest. I will be damned if Strangle Hold gets a single award for anything, let alon for GFX. Come years end, when games are getting GFX awards, you wont see Strangle Hold taking home any. And I dont need to go to an old game and analyze its gfx too know that they are just as good. Just from memory alone I can tell you that GOD of War 2 and FF12 look just as good as this game. And with the games obvious bullet time rip off, its just basically max payne. Dont get me wrong, Max Payne 1 and 2 were both great games, which is why strangle holds gameplay is solid, but its is definitely no were near the graphical master piece that is gears of war. I suggest you go look at some last gen games, and then realize that strangle hold looks the same as they do graphically. Open your eyes!

[FiveShot Bandit]

Is Stranglehold even out yet? I though it comes out next tuesday. I though the demo was really fun! Me and my buddies played it over and over just laughing the whole time because it was so fun.

[Kleptic]

yeah Max Payne 3: Asian cop named after Mexico's chief export...is merely ok in my book...One thing that drives me nuts about these UE3 based games is bodies disappearing...I can't stand that...both Vegas and Stranglehold do it...

the demo gives enough away to know that the story/plot is subject to the same criticism Woo always gets for his movies...meaning...blood and bullets missing the lead character first and foremost...then some talking occasionally for no apparent reason...then more bullets missing the lead character + more blood...

I really enjoyed the Max Payne series because the story was actually fairly good...and it seems that max payne 2 had better voice acting and direction than the demo of stranglehold...and holy crap they better fix the sound before release, firing a gun sounds like throwing an empty beer can at someone...

its ok I guess though...probably rent it, definitely won't buy it though...

[doublertist]

that beer can crack had me dying, wow couldnt have said it better myself

[Rockstar]

Yeah, The sound was not in very good shape. My 5.1 receiver kept popping in and out of 5.1 on this one.

Very annoying playing a game with the constant clicking of the receiver.

[Trick Nolte]

I said this was nothing more than a max payne/dead to rights with that old and tired ass matrix slo-mo feauture. Midway spent WAAAAAAAAAAAAY to much on this mediocre game. Its not that bad but it really nothin special and again, the money they put into this was utterly stupid and one of the poorest excuses for a business decision I have seen in a while.

I'm starting to think Midway really was off that Tequila during the entire planning of this project. Well after this they might need to keep pourin!!!

TE-QUI-LA! WTF LMAO

[PS3Rebel]

sucked....whats with the u walk next 2 a table and ur sliding across or from one end to another????

max payne was way better

midway blows...however UT3 is looking promising - the graphics on that game are off the chart

[ApocalypseShadow]

the same guys who did psi-ops did the game.if you don't like this style of game,it's not for you.

some of you expect too much.no game is perfect.i hope it does well.

.......................mag lev super train................

[SofaKingReetodded]

this game is GREAT

[zerolinkgannon]

Midway sealed its fate when they showed that damn crusin usa game for the wii. The only thing that can save them now is if they listen to their fans for once and make a psy-ops 2! Mortal Kombat is like the 8 game in the series, why can't we get a psy-ops 2 huh?!

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

UTIII

nuf sed.

[SageFrancis]

The problem here is simple. The person writing this is a woman, a woman who doesn't know what she's talking about.

[supnub5]

they should stop releasing crapppy exclusives like hour of victory(it saddens me that somewhere a gamer didn't read a review and got the game and paid the price)stranglehold will sell okay, ut3 and blacksite what's gonna dominate,plus blacksite is solid fps played it when i was in e3, so don't say it's another hour of victory.

[supnub5]

they should stop releasing crapppy exclusives like hour of victory(it saddens me that somewhere a gamer didn't read a review and got the game and paid the price)stranglehold will sell okay, ut3 and blacksite what's gonna dominate,plus blacksite is solid fps played it when i was in e3, so don't say it's another hour of victory.