Midway quit arcades
Depressed at the state of their slots
Sad news breaks today as Midway announce their decision to withdraw from the coin-op market. In a prepared statement the company put the withdrawal down to an "ongoing declining demand in the coin-operated arcade video game market", and estimated that the cost would be fewer than 60 lay-offs. In its heyday, Midway was pumping out coin-ops faster than punters could plug coins into them. Mortal Kombat went through plenty of revisions in the arcade which generated lots of street cred for the company and no doubt helped sales of the titles rocket on consoles like the Mega Drive, Super Nintendo and PlayStation. Recently though there hasn't been much to shout about and arcade audiences have been dwindling thanks to the increasing power of home consoles like the PlayStation 2 and Dreamcast. Arcades are no longer the home of exceptional graphics and lustful new releases, and Midway have recognized this and taken their business elsewhere.