Recently, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been making efforts to attract more video game developers to Austin offering tax breaks among other incentives to relocate to the capital. Perry has expressed a desire to make Austin a new hub for the video game industry. Personally I think it would be great to have a burgeoning video game industry to complement the ever-expanding film industry already present in the city, attracting more of what my professor Dr. Carbonara referred to as the "creative working class." Unfortunately this NY Times article may signal a halt to Gov. Perry's plan...
Midway Games to Cut Work Force by 25%
By REUTERS
Published: December 16, 2008
Filed at 3:13 p.m. ET
Dec 16 (Reuters) - Midway Games (NYSE:MWY) Inc , a video game maker, said it would cut its global workforce by 25 percent, close a studio in Austin, Texas and suspend development on many non-core games to reduce its cost structure.
Separately, the maker of the popular "Mortal Kombat" video game series said in a filing with U.S. regulators that it expects to incur a total charge of about $21.7 million in the fourth quarter, including a severance-related cash charge of about $1.6 million.
The company, whose shares fell as much as 10 percent, said the headcount reduction, of about 180 full-time employees, would take place across multiple disciplines within its Austin, Chicago and San Diego locations.
Earlier this month, media mogul Sumner Redstone and his holding companies sold 80.3 million shares of Midway for 0.12 cent each.
Shares of Chicago-based Midway were down 2 cents at 17 cents in afternoon trade on Nasdaq.
Lets hope this doesnt scare any more developers out of the area!
1 comment:
Too bad NBA Jam could only go so far. I would like to see a revival of the arcade in the U.S.. We still have freakin' roller skating rinks! Geez.
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