Midway Chicago Cuts Staff, Refocuses Development

Money-strapped Mortal Kombat and This Is Vegas publisher Midway has laid off some 20 to 30 staffers at its Chicago development studio, according to new reports. The news was first reported by Kotaku, with separate anonymous development sources confirming the story to Gamasutra. This week, Midway chairman Shari Redstone resigned from its board of directors, and the following day the company announced significantly increased losses. The publisher characterized the most recent round of layoffs to Edge Online as a result of completing work on two major titles, Blitz: The League II and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Midway Chicago is best known for developing the long-running Mortal Kombat series and, according to Gamasutra sources, secondary franchises like Blitz: The League may receive less attention to more strongly focus the studio on the iconic fighting franchise. Earlier this year, Midway also laid off a significant number of employees from its Austin studio.