Chicago-based Mortal Kombat house Midway reported higher losses and higher sales for the third quarter ended September 30.

The publisher generated revenues of $51.4 million during the quarter, in line with guidance of $52 million. The same quarter a year ago saw revenues of $36.7 million.

Midway posted a net loss of $75.9 million, or 83 cents per share, more than doubling last year"s net loss of $33.5 million. The company attributed the loss to "additional amortization and writedowns of capitalized product development costs."

Key releases during the quarter included Blitz: The League II, TNA Imact!, Unreal Tournament III (Xbox 360 version) and Mortal Kombat: Kollection.

Over the past months, Midway laid off 90 workers at its Austin studio, cancelled licensing deals, closed its L.A. studio and lost key Chicago-based employees.

As of market close on Monday, Midway shares 23 percent to just 43 cents per share.

CEO Matt Booty stated, "In the second and third quarters of 2008 we have focused on addressing several critical issues that were affecting the ability of our company to achieve success, and the third quarter results and associated non-cash charges reflect that effort."

Midway has high hopes for its Q4 Mortal Kombat entry. "Our current focus is the upcoming launch of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, which aligns our Company with the exceptional Warner Bros. brand of DC Comics. We expect that the fourth quarter will represent significant progress toward completion of these efforts, and that we will enter 2009 with a renewed focus on Midway"s key strengths."

For the fiscal Q4, Midway projects net revenues of Kris Graft05 million and a net loss of around 20 cents per share.

Full year guidance is for net revenues of $210 million and a net loss of around Kris Graft.78 per share.