The Wheelman flees to Ubisoft?

Source: Gaming blog Kotaku. What we heard: Today, $150 million of Midway's total $240 million debt load came due, and as the publisher expected, it was unable to meet the obligations owed to creditors. As a result, Midway filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, allowing the Chicago-based publisher to...

Source: Gaming blog Kotaku.

What we heard: Today, $150 million of Midway's total $240 million debt load came due, and as the publisher expected, it was unable to meet the obligations owed to creditors. As a result, Midway filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, allowing the Chicago-based publisher to reorganize its debt structure in a last-ditch effort to keep its head above water. The move isn't quite a death knell for the publisher, but it will require Midway to take significant action to get on the right side of its creditors.

As noted by Midway as part of its announcement today, the publisher remains in possession of a number of attractive properties with money-making potential. One cash-raising option would be to sell off one or more of these IPs, a scenario that may have played out today.

Kotaku reports today that Ubisoft has picked up the rights to The Wheelman, which is currently slated for release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on March 20. Citing retail sources, the gaming blog says that orders for The Wheelman have been put on hold and that the title would be delayed to undergo a transformation into an Ubisoft production.

An open-world driving-action adventure, The Wheelman in its current form was developed by Midway and Vin Diesel's Tigon Studios. The game features the voice and likeness of Diesel and tells the story of an undercover agent who is sent to Barcelona and eventually finds himself involved in a power struggle between three gangs that run the city.

The official story: Neither Midway nor Ubisoft had responded to requests for comment as of press time.

Bogus or not bogus?: As an unproven new property, The Wheelman hardly commands the market value of one of Midway's other franchises, such as Mortal Kombat. Therefore, it seems like a plausible choice if the publisher simply wants to raise quick cash while retaining its future prospects. With neither company talking, however, it's too early to say if this is anything other than rumor.

57 Comments

  • thenephariouson

    Posted Mar 3, 2009 6:26 am PT

    Knowing Ubioft, they're bound to make this come good!

  • DEATH775

    Posted Feb 28, 2009 3:41 pm PT

    Yes Ubisoft would be better.

  • burn6

    Posted Feb 26, 2009 9:00 pm PT

    wheelman is not new to its genre, ubisoft can make a good impact on its overall milieu when released, they all are anyway. ubisoft has a history of great games. from good to great, not a bad deal or wheelman.

  • shakensparco

    Posted Feb 25, 2009 8:25 pm PT

    I really like Ubi too. Good Rainbow Six games, Splinter Cell, and more!

    And I like them a whole lot more than that dirty monopoly EA....

  • lannyboy334

    Posted Feb 23, 2009 10:22 pm PT

    Ubisoft is the only solo, big money business that puts out multiple new IPs and does any good these days. Sure there is Blizzard and Valve, but they only put out a new game every once and a while. Ubisoft puts out a lot of product, and I have to say that I am generally satisfied quite a bit with what they do, high fifezz Ubi, hopefully you get some of these decayed franchises so you can make them good again!

  • TehUndeadHorror

    Posted Feb 18, 2009 1:30 am PT

    Yay! Ubi rock.

  • jrabbit99

    Posted Feb 17, 2009 6:56 pm PT

    I really hope that Ubisoft picked it up. All of their games are automatically good

  • RonTorque

    Posted Feb 16, 2009 2:22 am PT

    The game is delayed again but with a price...Ubisoft is taking over and this is the best price ever.

  • prioritymail

    Posted Feb 15, 2009 10:58 am PT

    Whatever game ubisoft takes over will turn to gold, cant wait to see where this goes

  • boxofwit

    Posted Feb 15, 2009 2:59 am PT

    AWW.

  • PumpkinBoogie

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 4:21 pm PT

    Well I'm assuming--considering the fact this game was going to come out in about months time--the only thing they're really going to change is the probably whatever packaging that had Midway printed on it and change it to 'Ubisoft'. I guess it's good that, at least if Midway doesn't completely recover--some of their newer IPs won't go down with them. Still it's looking sad for Midway if this is what they're choosing to do....that would mean they're barely even strong enough to publish their own IPs.

  • rezapoc

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 1:35 pm PT

    Not going to buy it if Ubi gets it as Midway took the risk to make it and I won't fund vultures like Ubi

  • thekodaman

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 10:58 am PT

    Probably going to be more like Midway vs Angry Creditors

  • shani_boy101

    Posted Feb 14, 2009 3:35 am PT

    i really don't what happens to it tbh. looks just like a GTA wannabe with over the top GTA style driving physics and retarded running action.

  • GamerBoy53

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 12:22 pm PT

    Hey, I just got some random idea. Midway vs Capcom. That would be epic. Unless it already exists. I don't know, but seeing Scorpion shooting his hook at MegaMan and then doing a fatality would be epic. No offense to MegaMan.

  • pakhair

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 12:04 pm PT

    It's good that Ubi also got a game on gangs & underworld & we hope Midway gets some money to convince it's creditors BUT bad is it is delaaaayed once again

  • solidstein

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 11:55 am PT

    the only thing you gotta think about is that there are always gonna be devs who created new ideas and think they can be succesful in a new company and most these bigs companys are more publishers then developers so i hope midway survives we need all the new ips we can get

  • dude63

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 11:42 am PT

    Man this makes me worry about Psi ops sequel. I hope Ubi picks that up also...

  • EnderSR388

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 11:10 am PT

    "Kotaku reports today that Ubisoft has picked up the rights to The Wheelman, which is currently slated for release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on March 20. Citing retail sources, the gaming blog says that orders for The Wheelman have been put on hold, and that the title would be delayed to undergo a transformation into an Ubisoft production."
    ------------------------------

    Just cancel the game. I mean by the time this game goes through its "transformation" no one's going to give a crap about it. Unless Ubisoft puts some serious talent on the project, which I seriously doubt, since they have enough of their own IPs to nurture.

    I'm also assuming Ubisoft will delay it until Q4, slating a November release for the holidays.

    Not that I had extremely high hopes for The Wheelman anyways, but the release was right around the corner. I don't think in 9 months I'm going to have a desire to play this game, unless they completely revamp it and give it a "Ubisoft" feel.

  • jasonlc3221

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 10:25 am PT

    sucks to hear the big problems Midway is having. Mainly because I hate hearing about people losing their jobs. I hope Midway can hang in there.

  • vengeance00

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 9:46 am PT

    i want Capcom to buy MK so that they can remodel it into the concept they use for the new Street Fighter. it would be great to see a SF Vs MK game on in a store.

  • NavIGOtoR25

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 9:36 am PT

    Miserable Midway, but Ubisoft possible to entrust!

  • KenMasters238

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 8:28 am PT

    The wheelman has been pushed back to many times cause if I remember correctly it was supposed tro come out like last year.

  • otanikun

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 7:55 am PT

    Makes sense if Midway tanked, but I'm still pretty sure Midway would do a better job, especially after seeing what a wonderful job they did with MK vs DCU.

  • islam18

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 7:27 am PT

    GOOD: thanks for this news i think ubsoft well do good work

  • joesh89

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 7:17 am PT

    "dynomitemasta" I wouldn't be surprised either, EA eats smaller companies.

  • dynomitemasta

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 6:59 am PT

    Again, I predict that there are 3 dev companies left standing by this time next year... Our gaming world will soon crash and burn like every other industry is doing at the moment. Don't be surprised if EA winds up owning everything, which will be crazy because if that happens I expect MS to come in and scoop up EA effectively locking down the entire dev community in one simple purchase, effectively squeezing out all the competition. Pretty scary stuff.

  • Rpguru

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 6:31 am PT

    Tigon studios is great, doubt they'll let us down either way.

  • NatendoWhisky64

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 5:25 am PT

    Good, Im actually glad Ubisoft is getting a hold of this. It doesnt mean Im happy it is leaving Midway, but Ubisoft is a good company for it to go to. ... I'll keep what I was going to say about all of the people commenting about Ubisof tto myself... I dont want to get banned

  • Generalmojo

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 4:38 am PT

    oh god

  • boomdodger72

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 4:09 am PT

    I guessing it will have one bad feature - assassins creed - repetitiveness, far cry2 - too much driving, lets just hope Wheelman has good voice acting

  • richioso

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 3:11 am PT

    Can anyone say Waste Of Money?

  • AOldDog

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 2:44 am PT

    Leave it to Ubisoft to ruin things out. I kind'a wanted to play this but now i REALLY want to play it to see if Ubisoft is still capable of good things or runs from one flop to another.

  • robbie3000

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 1:58 am PT

    Looks like a cheap clone of GTA 4! I don't know who will want to buy this game, besides Vin ´´can`t act`` Diesel fans.

  • Riprock

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 1:01 am PT

    Heroes, knaves and rug rats. If the game comes to Ubisoft, I doubt they would change anything regarding game-play. I suspect they would simply replace Midway with Ubisoft in all of the titling, credits and packaging. So don't expect Ubisoft magic here. Any gaming magic, or lack thereof, is totally dependent on Tigon Studios. Hopefully the game is worth Ubisoft's investment, if it happens at all.

  • Lupivdaman

    Posted Feb 13, 2009 12:05 am PT

    looks like Wheelman is going to become a Free Running game now since thats the only thing Ubi can do

  • firehawk998

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 11:57 pm PT

    Hpoe Ubisoft can make this game exciting. Because currenlty right now Wheelman looks like a bad version of GTA.

  • Black_Kill3r

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 11:57 pm PT

    kewl !

  • Yyin9564

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 11:51 pm PT

    hm... don't care...

  • -E-N-E-M-Y-

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 10:37 pm PT

    Wheelman looks lame anyway. So I do not care.

  • Frosal

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 9:58 pm PT

    "...and that the title would be delayed to undergo a transformation into an Ubisoft production. "

    What, are they going to add repetitive missions to it?

  • IIHitandRunII

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 9:23 pm PT

    I agree with xtiansk8 i know that this game will disappoint everyone it actually looks like GTA but much worse......

  • alienfreak78

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 9:19 pm PT

    At some point ubisoft was my favorite. they still do good things. hopefully one of those is making wheelman a good game

  • Pete5506

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 9:12 pm PT

    Sounds good to me, I'm fine with that

  • xtiansk8

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 9:05 pm PT

    I know this, ubisoft is going to disappoint us with this game.... =(

  • death_zone

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 8:47 pm PT

    I just hope wheelman for the PC is not a lazy Port From Console! Ubisoft is a weak PC developers now!

  • tupac-makaveli

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 8:13 pm PT

    un-freaking believable! and how ironic...and while ubisoft is at it, buy mortal kombat and we'll call it a day.

  • travisstaggs

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 7:50 pm PT

    Wheelman looks boring to me but thats just me I'm sure.

  • Desperados11

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 7:28 pm PT

    @supergamer
    publishing a game requires cash so if u can't pay for the disks to be manufactured thats a problem
    this way they get some money and we get to see the wheelman for sure

  • BradHummr

    Posted Feb 12, 2009 6:28 pm PT

    Aw...I was hoping Midway would pull through with The Wheelman. Not that I have anything against Ubisoft though! Love every game of theirs I have bought!

    Good luck Midway.

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