Midway's Q2 Falls Short Of Expectations

The Chicago-based company lost $3 million on revenue of $76.9 million, down a whopping 48% from the $147.6 million in revenue for the same period last year. That revenue amounts to a loss of 8 cents per share for the quarter, which was worse than the 1 cent per share loss that most analysts had expected. And Midway's top executive said that the company isn't over the hump yet. "Next quarter we will have losses greater than the current quarter's loss -- this is not new news," CEO Neil Nicastro said. "The decline in revenues and overall profitability is primarily related to the platform transition currently underway from 32- and 64-bit home video game consoles ... to the next-generation 128-bit consoles...". Nicastro anticipates that things will pick up for Christmas 2001, as new consoles like the PS2 and Xbox take root and provide a sufficient market for games. "The next Christmas season will be the turnaround point," he said.