Warner Bros. acquires Midway Games
In order to situate themselves more firmly in the gaming industry, Warner Bros. has purchased Midway Games, who developed such classic game titles as Ms. Pac-Man, Tron and Spy Hunter.
Thanks to bankruptcy court, Warner Bros. has obtained most of Midway Games' assets as well as the studio rights to game franchises like "Mortal Kombat" and "Joust."
According to an article on Variety.com, "A Delaware bankruptcy court judge OK'd the deal last week, saying that the objections to the transaction had been resolved. Midway filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year. Sumner Redstone had sold his 87% stake to Mark E. Thomas last year for only $100,000 along with the assumption of $70 million of Midway debt."
Warner declined to mention its strategy for Midway but it chose not to buy two Midway development studios in San Diego and Newcastle, England.
The Variety.com article goes on to say, "Warner Bros. has been bolstering its vidgame and interactive biz. It bought Snowblind Studios in February, 'Lego' games producer TT Games in 2007 and Monolith Prods. in 2006."
The studio already has a 30 percent investment in Eidos, the company behind the "Tomb Raider" games franchise. It also procured the "Lord of the Rings" franchise from Electronic Arts earlier this year.
Eidos, which is based in Wimbledon, South London, is one of the world's leading developers of entertainment software and is behind such games as the "Hitman" trilogy and the four "Deus Ex" games. It just released "Tomb Raider: Underworld" for Playstation 2, Xbox 360, PCDVD, Nintendo DS, Wii and Playstation 3.
