Exit of European marketing head leaves Midway on the hunt again

Midway Games, the US video games developer and publisher behind Mortal Combat, is on the hunt for a European marketing director following the abrupt departure of Al King after just six months.

It is understood that King has already left and it is not clear if he has a job to go to.

King joined the games publisher in June from film distributor Twentieth Century Fox, where he had been UK marketing director since 2004. Prior to that, King worked at games publisher Electronic Arts for 11 years, where he held various positions including that of European director of consumer marketing.

It is the second time in 18 months that Midway has been forced to look for a European marketing director. Last June, former marketing chief Matt Broughton left the company just a month after the appointment of Martin Spiess as European managing director. Spiess joined from Atari where he held the position of senior vice-president of marketing.

Midway Games is best known for its controversial computer games title, Mortal Kombat, but it has a portfolio of other games including new release Happy Feet, based on the eponymous film title released last month.

Midway’s Mortal Kombat has often courted controversy, most recently for associations with cyber bullying.

Last month, an anti-bullying charity, Bullying Online, slammed a violent ad for Mortal Kombat for encouraging cyber bullying (MW November 16). The viral directed recipients to a website called kreativekilling.co.uk, which was advertising Mortal Kombat Armageddon.

Last month, Midway announced net revenues for the quarter ending September 30 of $27.4m (£13.8m), compared with $29.5m (£15m) for the same period last year.