NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Midway Games, which hasn't seen a profitable quarter since 1999, has signed a deal giving it publication rights to one of the most successful franchises in the video game world.
Developer Epic Games signed a deal with the Chicago publisher, giving it distribution rights for the "Unreal" franchise. Midway will publish the next three "Unreal" games, starting with "Unreal Championship 2" for the Xbox next year. Epic previously had a publishing deal with Atari.
"Unreal" doesn't have the mainstream name recognition some of its peers in the action genre do, but it's a favorite among gamers. Since 1999, the series has sold more than 7 million units, generating nearly $200 million in revenue.
The move marks Midway's re-emergence into the AAA game category. For the past several years, the company has had a string of critical and commercial failures, but it has recently begun to turn things around. The recently released "NBA Ballers" was the second best selling game for the PlayStation 2 between April and June 2004. The Xbox version was the fifth best seller.
The company seems to be turning a quarter financially as well. It reported a second quarter loss of $9 million Wednesday, a vast improvement over the $54.8 million net loss during the same period in 2003. It expects to return to profitability in the fourth quarter.
Midway was recently taken over by Viacom Chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone. He has maintained that the investment is a personal one and not related to Viacom. He has expressed some interest in taking the company private, but he has not made any moves to do so since assuming a 74 percent ownership stake.
|
