Tag Archives: Matt Booty

20 per cent of troubled company Midway’s staff have been given two month’s notice, reports Edge.

According to the Chicago Tribune, among those to be let go is chief executive Matt Booty.

Hard times indeed.

Warner recently paid $49m for the Mortal Kombat developer, as was reported last week.

Ever wonder what game industry CEOs make in a year?  It’s loads more than any of us, we guarantee.

According to The Game Trade Journal, between bonuses, stock options and incentives, the following CEOs are paid the most according to proxy statements filed with the SEC.

• Activision – Bobby Kotick: $14.9 Million; Base pay is $899,560 plus $5 million in bonuses last year with $3 million in incentives with $5.9 million of that in exercised stock options. Before the Vivendi merger, his grand total for the year was $2.8 million. (Activision lost $107 million in 2008)

• Electronic Arts – John Riccitiello: $5 Million; Base is $750,000, $3.6 million in stock options, $625,350 in incentives. (EA posted a loss of $641 million in Q4)

• THQ – Brian Farrell: $2.7 million; Base pay was $600,000 lower than 2007 which last year amounted to $651,087 and $1.4 million in option awards (THQ posed a $192 million loss for Q3)

• GameStop – Dan DeMatteo: $4.9 million; Expected to get a $2.4 million bonus this year.

• Midway -Matt Booty: $387,584; That figure is since October 2008. The previous CEO, David Zucker took in $1.5 million.

• Majesco – Jesse Sutton: $943,847; Base pay of $356,073 and a bonus almost equal that amount (Majesco’s net was $3.4 million last year)

• Take Two – Ben Feder: $1; Take-Two paid him $1 last year excluding health benefits because his check comes from Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick. (Take-Two reported a profit of $97 million last year)

Thanks, Evil Avatar

Midway’s announced plans to cut 180 staff, or 25 percent of its global workforce.

Its Austin studio is to be closed completely, and “development on several non-core games” has been suspended, the publisher said in a statement.

“The cost-reduction measures are vital for us to rationalize our operations and provide the resources necessary for our core properties to succeed,” said company boss, Matt Booty.

“These initiatives, along with the other steps we have taken this year, are a response to the specific challenges we are facing at Midway, many of which have been amplified by the current economic conditions.”

Midway’s had a rough time of it recently, being sold for a song, watching its share price crater, facing delisting from the NYSE and even facing imminent bankruptcy.

Still. It’s Christmas soon!

To all those caught in the storm: we salute you.

Press release after the break.

More »

Midway’s confirmed Matt Booty is to take a full-time role as CEO and president of Midway.

He’s served as interim boss of the first since March this year, when David Zucker “left” the company after some seriously impressive cash-losing.

“Over the past two quarters we have made progress reducing costs, realigning our studios, and improving execution on our game launches,” said Booty.

“Along with the rest of our management team, I am committed to continuing to drive this progress and maintain a sharp focus on the successful implementation of our plans for the fourth quarter and beyond.”

Press release after the link.

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Speaking with GI, Midway CEO and president Matt Booty said that the company has “a strong commitment” to it’s Newcastle studio, dispelling any redundancy rumours that have surfaced since the company laid off 90 in Austin.

“Newcastle is a very important studio for us,” he said. “We just brought in a new studio head, Craig Duncan, formerly with Codemasters, so I think those two things are an indication that we’ve got a very strong commitment to that studio.

“We’ve had quite a lot of good hires in the last year to eighteen months at the director level – art director, technical director, audio director – so we’re very happy with the leadership of the studio and we currently have acting as executive producer on Wheelman a guy who came up through the ranks on the Mortal Kombat team in the Chicago studio,” Booty confirmed.

More through the link.

By Mike Bowden