14 DAY TRIAL // Publisher and developer Midway has been sold as Sumner Redstone decided to let go of the 87% of the company he owned.
The new owner of Midway will be investor Mark Thomas. The price tag for the videogame publisher is an astonishingly low 100,000 dollars, which comes down to about 0.0012 cents for a share of the company. The investor will also take over 70 million dollars in debt on behalf of Midway and the company is set to go through a serious restructuring process in the near future.
It seems that selling was one of the moves that banks requested as part of a process aimed at restructuring the 1.6 billion debt that National Amusements, the company owned by Sumner Redstone, has. Midway has already canceled some titles, closed a few studios and fired a number of employees to reduce its costs, while focusing on releasing high value games that would attract big sales.
Midway recently launched Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, a fighting game that seeks to take the well known franchise forward while attracting new players to the universe. The game was well received by fans and critics, even if the T rating which the company secured means that the trademark violence of the series has been somewhat reduced. Still, the chance to pit a superhero like Superman against a well known character like Sub Zero is set to attract a big number of gamers to the title.
Another of the medium sized videogaming companies, SCi Entertainment, Eidos’ parent, is also said to be ready for a sale. Electronic Arts, which already has a 25% stake in the company, is reported to be in early talks and some sources also link Ubisoft, interested in expanding, with SCi. At the moment, there's no official word from these companies.