Midway files for chapter 11 bankruptcy

[Nerdkiller likes BD]

http://kotaku.com/5152300/midway-files-for-bankruptcy

The long-struggling publisher of Mortal Kombat filed for bankruptcy this morning, calling it a difficult but necessary decision.

The voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 effects all of its U.S. subsidiaries, but none of its international ones.

"This was a difficult but necessary decision," said Midway Chairman, President and CEO Matt Booty. "We have been focused on realigning our operations and improving our execution, and this filing will relieve the immediate pressure from our creditors and provide us time for an orderly exploration of our strategic alternatives. This Chapter 11 filing is the next logical step in an ongoing process to address our capital structure."

"Midway enters this process with strong underlying fundamentals, as evidenced by solid fourth quarter sales that exceeded expectations in spite of a challenging retail and general economic environment," Booty added. "Overall, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe sales are approaching two million units shipped, TNA iMPACT! has shipped approximately one million units, and our Game Party franchise has sold close to three million units in total."

The publisher and developer said it expects the protection will help the company conduct business as usual, but it needs permission from the court before it can move forward. Chapter 11 means they want to keep operating, chapter 7, which they didn't file, means they are liquidating.

Awww man, this is sad. I mean, I like the Mortal Kombat series, but from where I'm seeing with this, I just hope someone picks the series up (also planning on getting MK II off of PSN but with this, the servers are probably shut down). First Free Radical (although they got saved by Crytek) now this.