CHICAGO, IL, AND PARIS, FRANCE – Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY), a leading interactive entertainment publisher and developer, announced that it has entered into a strategic relationship with Ubisoft to publish Wheelman, the highly-anticipated open-world driving game starring action-film megastar Vin Diesel as an expert driver for hire. Ubisoft will handle sales, marketing, and distribution of the title in North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Midway will continue to direct the development of the title and retains all future rights to the franchise and will sell the title in all other European territories.
Wheelman is scheduled for a March 24, 2009, ship date in North America and a March 27, 2009, street date in Europe for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC. A pre-launch demo is also planned for the Xbox 360 and PS3.
"We are pleased to be partnering with Midway to bring Wheelman to stores worldwide," said Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing, Ubisoft. "The cutting edge open-world driving technology in Wheelman should make for an experience that gamers will enjoy."
"Ubisoft's decision to join Midway in a co-publishing agreement is a gratifying validation of Wheelman's potential," commented Matt Booty, president and CEO, Midway. "Ubisoft has a proven expertise at bringing new IP to market, which will allow us to reach a broader consumer segment with Wheelman, while helping Midway to balance the risk profile of our product portfolio."
"The development team in Newcastle, UK, has fine-tuned and polished Wheelman, especially in these last few months, to deliver a true Hollywood blockbuster experience," said Craig Duncan, studio head, Midway Studios - Newcastle Ltd. "The demo due out for Xbox 360 and PS3 will show that Wheelman's new game design mechanics like cinematic super moves and vehicular combat will revolutionize driving games."