Epic brings Unreal franchise to Midway

Developer Epic Games has signed a three-game contract with Midway which will see the publisher handling forthcoming titles in the Unreal series, beginning with Unreal Championship 2 on Xbox in early 2005.

The deal will cover two further instalments in the series on PC and next-generation consoles, and according to Midway CEO David Zucker, could also be extended to "expansion packs and potential next-generation console releases as well."

The deal will come as a blow to Atari, which was formerly the publisher of the franchise - which has now sold over seven million units worldwide in all its various iterations - and will now continue to sell the back catalogue of Unreal titles.

Although the company claims that the decision to split from Epic was mutual - telling the press that "we have different views on what should come next for Unreal and we've decided it's time to move on" - there's no doubt that the loss of Epic will create a major hole in the publisher's release schedule, and will make it even more dependent on its relationship with Japanese firm Bandai for its key releases.

While Midway - which is gradually emerging from a series of loss-making financial years and was recently effectively bought out by Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone - seems like an unusual choice for Epic, both sides of the deal insist that it's an ideal match of product and publisher.

Epic in particular highlights Midway's recent handling of Mortal Kombat, The Suffering and Psi-Ops as being proof that the company is right for the Unreal franchise. "Midway gets it. They hit right at the heart of games," according to Epic vice president Mark Rein.

Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict is due for launch on the Xbox in February 2005, and is planned as an Xbox exclusive (and Live enabled) title.