Ex-Midway Newcastle employee talks studio closure

An ex-Midway Newcastle GUI artist named Steven Pick has detailed the studio's closure over on his personal blog, stating that work was going on as usual before the doors officially shut.

Pick details how Necessary Force was still being pitched to publishers right up to the last day in hopes of saving it,stating that the rush to provide a complete demo for investors was to help save jobs - which, alas, did not work.

"One thing is for sure - the threat of losing your job is a strong motivator," he wrote. "We had expected that the closure would be on Friday, and everyone was working to that point. A week after we were told of the failure of the 'big pitch', Tuesday July 14 would be a day I will never forget.

"As lunch neared, our secretary noted on the security cameras that Matt Booty - the bigwig Midway CEO at the time - was outside the studio 'with a bunch of people'. The news filtered through the studio like wildfire accompanied by assorted reactions - mostly of the 'oh f***' variety.

Apparently, the studio closed on pay-day, but no redundancy or holiday pay was forthcoming.

"Some of us asked why we were not getting paid when the London office was reportedly cash-rich. After all the work, the praise, the highs and lows of it all... it came down to this. It was heartbreaking seeing everyone slowly filter away from there... wondering what would become of us as individuals now that our team, which was such a solid and incredible machine, had been disassembled like a piece of flat-pack furniture."

Ouch. Read the rest through the link.

Via GI.biz.