UbiSoft To Publish Wheelman

18 Feb 2009 at 23:22:43 by Paul Younger

UbiSoft has entered into an agreement with Midway to publish Wheelman.

There have been rumours abound all week that UbiSoft would be picking up the publishing rights to Midway and Vin Diesel's Wheelman and this evening it has been confirmed by the publisher.

Midway has been stuggling financially and recently filed for for Chapter 11 bankruptcy but it appears the game has been saved and the deal between UbiSoft and Midway is being called a "strategic relationship".  Ubisoft will handle sales, marketing, and distribution of the title in North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Midway will publish the game in all other EU territories. Wheelman will be released on March 24th.

UbiSoft will not take on the Wheelman franchise which will be retained by Midway.

"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."

Comment