Midway getting Unreal

Surprise deal will see the traditionally console-centric company publish one of PC gaming's premier franchises, possibly for next-gen consoles.

In a move that shocked the industry, Midway Games announced it has struck a multigame deal with Unreal developer Epic Games. The multiyear agreement will see Midway publish the next two PC Unreal games, as well as the Xbox-exclusive Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict, due in February 2005. In an analyst conference call today, company president and CEO David Zucker said the deal could cover "expansion packs and potential next-generation console releases as well."

In a statement, Midway was eager to point out that the deal "marks Midway's entrance into the premium PC games sector with a property that has sold more than 7 million units worldwide." Indeed, the Unreal deal marks the first major foray into the PC game sector for the traditionally console-centric company. Only a handful of games from Midway's catalog are for the PC, the majority of which are poorly reviewed ports of its arcade titles. The company has looked to other companies to help publish the PC versions of its titles. Most recently, it copublished the PC version of The Suffering with Encore Software.

With the Unreal deal, Midway suddenly has a showcase PC franchise in its stable, and company president and CEO David Zucker couldn't be happier. "It immediately establishes Midway as a leader in the PC games sector," he said. "We are delighted that Epic chose Midway over other publishers, and we look forward to working closely with the Epic team to carefully manage this valuable franchise."

The "other publisher" Zucker speaks of is Atari, who had published the Unreal franchise for PCs and consoles for more than four years. "Atari and Epic have enjoyed a 10-year relationship, and we're proud to have contributed to the success of the Unreal franchise," said the publisher in a statement. "However, we have different views on what should come next for Unreal, and we've decided it's time to move on." Atari reps said the two companies plan to continue to collaborate to help sell the 10 Unreal titles in Atari's library, including Unreal Tournament 2004.

0 Comments

advertisement

Hot Stories

Newsmakers

Featured Stories

Submit News

Got tips? Send them in!

Related Game

Unreal Tournament 2004 Boxshot
Unreal Tournament 2004

Game Stats

  • Rank:
    654 of 79,947
    (down by 22)
    PC Rank:
    221 of 12,654
    Tracking:
    9,465 Track It»
    Wishlists:
    1,713 Wish It»
  • Users Now Playing:
    4,549
  • Number of Players:

    1-32 | Offline Modes: Team Oriented | Online Modes: Competitive, Cooperative

  • Top 5 User Tags:
    1. unreal
    2. unreal tournament 2004
    3. unreal tournament
    4. atari
    5. fps
  • Mature Rating Description

    Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language. Learn more

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Related Games

Recent News

See All News »

Site Blogs