The racing and car-combat game Wheelman, starring none other than Vin Diesel, has been in development by Midway for a couple of years. Yet now that the game is nearing completion, Midway has handed the publishing reins to Ubisoft for “strategic” reasons.
Via the strategic partnership between Midway and Ubisoft, 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. It will also sell the title — as originally planned — in all other European territories.
Normally arrangements such as this are for financial or distribution reasons.
Wheelman is scheduled for a March 24, 2009 ship date in North America and a March 27, 2009 street date in Europe for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows PC. A pre-launch demo is also planned for the Xbox 360 and PS3.