Ubisoft officially publishing Wheelman

by Ben Gilbert { Feb 18th 2009 at 1:42PM }

And it's officially official, folks: Ubisoft is publishing the previously Midway-held title, Wheelman. Ubisoft's Jaime Borasi confirmed to us this morning, "Yes, the deal with Midway has been finalized and we'll be shipping to retail on March 24th." In case you had forgotten, Wheelman is the third-person shooter/action-driving game coming to Xbox 360/PS3/PC starring everyone's favorite street racer, Vin Diesel.

The deal comes in the wake of Midway's recent filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (that's the protection kind, not the liquidation kind) and a slew of rumors surrounding the sale of Midway by majority stockholder Sumner Redstone to mystery man Mark Thomas. Will Midway continue selling off its intellectual properties to stay afloat? Will that next Mortal Kombat game already in production soldier on? It remains to be seen. We've put in word to Midway for comment.

UPDATE: Ubisoft and Midway are calling the publishing deal a "strategic relationship", saying, "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." Looks like Midway's not out of the loop on Wheelman after all.

Tags: bankruptcy, business, midway, pc, the-wheelman, ubisoft, vin-diesel, wheelman

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Deck @ Feb 18th 2009 1:46PM

Man, Vinny is going to have two games back to back!

samik @ Feb 18th 2009 1:55PM

Ah, good old adventure games, nothing beats them

Deone @ Feb 18th 2009 2:08PM

Click on the *car* to drive it, but be sure and find the *gas can* in the alley and click on the *car* with the *gas can*; but not before finding the gas station and clicking on the *gas pump* with the *can* to fill it. Dolt- you need to get a *wallet* under the pile of trash next to the insane hobo in the abandoned warehouse so you can pay for the gas. Now you're ready to drive.

Of course officer Todd won't let you drive without your *license*. You did remember to grab that from you're apartment on the night stand, right? RIGHT?

samik @ Feb 18th 2009 1:55PM

Sorry, wrong article
(Looks stupid)

Deone @ Feb 18th 2009 2:00PM

When was the last good Wheelman game? Pre-GTA for sure. I hope this stacks up. But when you had to drive the president in, what was it, final mission on Wheelman 2(?), that was ridiculously hard.

I remember me and 5 friends passing the controller around for several hours trying to get through it. Later that night, my Playstation broke. Partially because I slammed it into a concrete bike trail in frustration, to the amazement of onlookers. I went down in Westside history for that. People still reference that action 10 years later.

And Wheelman went down in my history as one of the only games I got to the final mission and never finished. I'll probably get this sight unseen as retribution, as I'm sure the more casual oriented audience will guarantee a completion. But do we need another GTA clone, which I'm guessing this will be.

shamowfski @ Feb 18th 2009 2:15PM

Yeah, 4 is a tough age.

Deone @ Feb 18th 2009 2:38PM

Harsh man, totally harsh. Still I upvote you for it.

Residentevil72501 @ Feb 18th 2009 2:38PM

Deone its WHEELMAN, not fucking Driver. There have never been any Wheelman games because its fucking new. Now go crawl back under your rock for another 10 years or something.

Deeznuts420 @ Feb 18th 2009 3:53PM

Ouch.

JoeTheBlow @ Feb 18th 2009 3:12PM

"Will Midway continue selling off its intellectual properties to stay afloat?"
I seriously doubt their IP is worth 300 million, yet alone the 150mil they owe the bank alone.
They're going down, it can't be stopped, the only reason its still shambling on is because the execs are trying to sort out their severance bonuses and stock options before bailing.