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Viacom Sneaking Up On Midway Takeover?

Posted by simoniker on from the don't-wake-the-kombat dept.

Thanks to GameSpot for its article discussing more evidence that Viacom may be considering a takeover of publisher Midway, following Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone's increasing financial stake in the company. Redstone noted in an SEC document: "The management of Viacom Inc. has... considered the possibility of participating more extensively in the electronic games business... Midway could be considered as a potential licensee of Viacom intellectual property, or as an acquisition candidate." It's noted that: "Regardless of whether Viacom buys Midway, the filing clears the way with regulators for Midway to compete for Viacom licenses." In any case, with Warner Bros also making in-roads into the game market, it seems some larger media conglomerates are considering getting back into the games industry.

13 comments

  1. So, what does it mean for us? by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

    Will they let John Romero direct the next Star Trek movie because they got envious of Lucas' success with Episode 1?

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    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    1. Re:So, what does it mean for us? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Heh. Why not? Neither franchise can get much worse.

    2. Re:So, what does it mean for us? by geminidomino · · Score: 2, Funny

      If that means we don't get another crappy Star Trek movie for 4 years after he announces how awesome it's going to be, I think it's a GREAT plan!

    3. Re:So, what does it mean for us? by sharkey · · Score: 1

      Just wait for Star Trek XVII! Kirk and Spock spend the first 50 minutes of the movie zapping killer mosquitoes with phaser rifles.

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      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
    4. Re:So, what does it mean for us? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So we'd be back to the old Original Series formula that made Star Trek a cult classic: less talking and more alien shooting and fistfighting!

  2. Ugh by Dachannien · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This trend is bad news for (well, almost) all of us. Large media companies are unlikely to take the necessary risks that bring unique and interesting games to fruition. Current large game publishers are already notoriously uninspired, imposing their desires for a better bottom line on the creativity of development houses, and increasing the size of the publisher only makes things worse.

    In the future, we'll just keep getting games where the concept is the same old stale crap, just with the graphics updated for the newest hardware and algorithms.

    1. Re:Ugh by AltaMannen · · Score: 1

      While the current mindset of publishers is to capitalize on known properties (in other words, spend all their attention to copy successful games or make sequels) the growth potential with more financial backing would lie with original propositions. Perhaps not as original as lawnmover (the c64 game where you moved lawns and avoided dogs) but more likely by merging popular genres / ideas and trying to fit licensed content with new game ideas. I don't think the situation will necessarily be much better with media conglomerates running the publishers but I think it will be different.

  3. The death knell for Midway? by Peteroo · · Score: 5, Interesting
    A quote from Viacom documents included in the GameSpot story:

    "The management of Viacom Inc. has from time to time considered the possibility of participating more extensively in the electronic games business, possibly by acquiring a company in that industry."

    That's pretty funny! Viacom's been in the games business twice already and its track record does not exactly inspire confidence.

    Just within the last year or so, it closed down Simon & Schuster Interactive (home to a couple of interesting latter-day Star Trek games and Real War--though it is perhaps best known as the publisher of Panty Raider and Deer Avenger).

    Moreover, a game unit under Viacom's own name (Viacom New Media, perhaps best known for Virtual Stupidity and Dracula Unleashed) was shuttered in the late '90s.

    In view of past experience (not to mention Midway's tradition of red ink), how long will Redstone stay in the market this time around?

    Peter

  4. Hmm... by The+Analog+Kid · · Score: 2, Informative

    Harry Lang, Executive Director of Interactive Product Development for Paramount Pictures said in that Trek gaming was not dead and that there would be an announcement before the years-end could this be the first step in reviving Trek games? Is Viacom going solo and cutting out third party developers?

  5. FIRST TROLL! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I just noticed that this story has been up for over a day now, and not a single post is rated less than 1.

    What's really cool (and the reason I checked this article out) is that the Slashdot Games page showed "8 comments" but didn't have a second number to indicate that some posts don't match the minimal threshold.

    So unless somebody is mean and decides to mod this up, I claim the honor of "First Troll" for this article for myself.

  6. darn it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you better not mod up this message...

  7. darn it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First Troll - Take 2:

    click here!

  8. Hiring again by butane_bob2003 · · Score: 1

    Midway seems to be hiring again:
    http://search8.smartsearchonline.com/midwaygames/j obs/process_jobsearch.asp

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