Fighting Fit
Midway boss David Zucker on the new E3, owning IP and console price cuts.
David F. Zucker, a former Disney and ESPN executive, became CEO of Midway Games in 2003. Following the recent E3 Media & Business Summit, he spoke to GamesIndustry.biz about the new trade show and current issues within the industry.
GamesIndustry.biz: What were your feelings on the new E3? What worked for you and didn't work for you as a publisher?We were able to have all the meetings that we would have otherwise had. Certainly retail wasn't there like they have been in the past, but that's fine. I think most of the publishers are already engaging with retail on a regular basis now. To some extent this show, at least from a retail standpoint, has probably outlived its usefulness.
We certainly got to see a lot of press and a lot of business relationships that are important to us. I'd say we were as busy as we've been at any E3, it was just quieter.
I'm not sure we need the Barker Hangar. I agree the transportation was an issue; I almost didn't get to our press conference. So I think that's something that can be fixed with a single big location in the future, but I'm not so sure you need the Barker Hangar.
Certainly, the ESA is going to meet over the coming months and then make some decisions. From what I've heard, there are some pretty good arguments pro and con, so we'll have to see what comes out of the meetings.
At your press conference, you talked about publishing more PC games, more handheld games, more Wii games... Generally more mass market games. Was that a reference to your existing licenses with Cartoon Network, or is this a new push?It's just a general observation. We were big on the Nintendo Wii at launch; we had four launch titles. We just released MK: Armageddon for the Wii. We just announced two more Wii exclusives for this holiday with Game Party and Cruisin' as well as a number of exclusive Nintendo DS products - so that's been part of our strategy for some time.
Obviously, Midway has a big library of classic coin-op properties which you've already offered on Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Store. How are those games doing for you?We had four of the top 10 Xbox Live Arcade titles at launch. We've put out, I think, eight now on the Xbox Live Arcade and there are more coming. So it has been an important push for us.
At your press conference, you spoke of investing three years and USD 100 million in next-gen tools for internal development. Does that mean you intend to shift your focus even more away from licensed titles and towards owned IP?Midway obviously has own our own stable of intellectual property from Mortal Kombat to Blitz to Area 51... We've certainly always been more aggressive on owned IP among the publishers. That continues.
Certainly we've established licensing relationships...we have NBA Ballers for the next four or five years, we've got a relationship with Warner Bros. with Happy Feet and so on.
In terms of owned IP, when you look at things like Stranglehold, for example, yes we own the IP in the videogame space but we are also working with John Woo and Chow Yun Fat - so there are things that we like to say reduce the new IP effect of these franchises.
Speaking of Stranglehold, I note that you are including the movie Hard Boiled on the Blu-ray disk. Is that something you will consider for other properties if it makes financial sense?Sure. I mean, believe it or not, this is the first time it has ever been done. It will be on a single disc. Sony's very excited about it, we're excited about it. It just makes a lot of sense for this game and for the fans. As opportunities make themselves available in the future, we'll be looking at them.
Unreal Tournament 3 has been announced as a PlayStation 3 exclusive for the holiday season. Are there any reasons why the 360 version is not launching simultaneously?I think Mark Rein said it best. It shouldn't be that much of a surprise. When you go back to last year's E3, one of the first titles that were shown on Sony's PS3 was Unreal Tournament. So, it has always been a big title for the PS3. We've announced an Xbox 360 version, but the PS3 / PC version for 2007 is exclusive.
In terms of the PS3 price cut, do you think USD 100 dollars is enough to encourage sales?It is certainly going to encourage sales. I mean, any time you get a hundred dollar price cut on hardware, it will improve sales. The question is, is it enough? Will there be more? We're not Sony. We would not be the only publisher to tell you that we're a little concerned about the take-up of the PS3.
Don't forget, there is still the Blu-ray player in there. I'm sure they'll be making decisions as and when they need to as they go forth. But with the Blu-ray player in there, it is still a pretty good value with the price cut.
David Zucker is CEO of Midway. Interview by Mark Androvich. Part two of this interview will be published on GamesIndustry.biz next week.