Ubisoft Takes the Wheel(man) from Midway

With all the trouble Midway has been facing lately, gamers have been wondering how everything would affect the upcoming titles that the publisher already had in development. Well, late yesterday we got the answer for at least one of those games. According to a statement released by Midway, Ubisoft will be riding shotgun when Vin Diesel gets the behind the wheel of Wheelman and rides off to retail on March 24th.

In the statement, Midway announced that it had “entered into a strategic relationship” with Ubisoft, which will give Ubi the rights to handle sales, marketing, and distribution of the title in North America, South America, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Austria, Ireland and the United Kingdom. For its part, Midway will hold on to the future rights to the franchise (well, at least for now), and will continue to direct the game’s development of the title, while also maintaining rights to sell the title in all other European territories.

“We are pleased to be partnering with Midway to bring Wheelman to stores worldwide,” said Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing, Ubisoft. “The cutting edge open-world driving technology in Wheelman should make for an experience that gamers will enjoy.”

“Ubisoft’s decision to join Midway in a co-publishing agreement is a gratifying validation of Wheelman’s potential,” commented Matt Booty, president and CEO, Midway. “Ubisoft has a proven expertise at bringing new IP to market, which will allow us to reach a broader consumer segment with Wheelman, while helping Midway to balance the risk profile of our product portfolio.”

Currently, Wheelman is still on tap to race to retail on March 24th in North America, and on March 27th in Europe. Wheelman will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, and a 360 and PS3 demo is due to go live within the weeks leading up to the game’s release.