We're certainly going to have games for the launch of the PS3," he told the finance-news Web site. "But we don't have any games for the launch of the Xbox 360." Ironically, Epic Games, developer of the Midway-published Unreal Tournament series, is working on one of the Xbox 360's most anticipated launch titles, Gears of War, with Microsoft Game Studios.

Pressed on his reasoning, Zucker explained that it's a "pretty small install base... To really maximise, to get the performance out of some of the games, it's going to take some time to do that. And we want to make sure we're launching high-quality titles."

Zucker's comment also means that Midway's only announced next-generation title, Stranglehold, won't arrive until next year. Reps for Midway confirmed that the John Woo-inspired shooter, a sequel to the director's 1992 classic Hard Boiled, would not arrive until 2006. "Stranglehold is scheduled to ship on next-gen consoles in 2006," said the rep, without specifying a particular platform.