NEWS - Monday, October 11, 2004
Midway Acquires Area 51 Developer
Oct. 11, 2004 Midway Games Inc. announced today that it has acquired Austin, Texas-based Inevitable Entertainment Inc., the development studio working on Midway’s upcoming new videogame, AREA 51. Midway acquired privately-held Inevitable in an all-stock transaction for 218,421 Midway common shares. The acquisition accelerates Midway’s previously announced plans to open an Austin studio and increases the Company’s internal development resources. Midway president and chief executive officer David F. Zucker commented, "In acquiring Inevitable Entertainment, we have added an extremely creative development group to our product development organization and furthered our ability to deliver high-quality, compelling content. Our increased internal product development capabilities offer an important balance and blend with our external development partners, and enable us to continue to publish critically and commercially successful software for current and future systems." In addition to shares issued for the acquisition of Inevitable Entertainment, a total of 152,824 restricted shares of Midway common stock were issued to key Inevitable employees as retention incentives. The restrictions on the stock will lapse in stages over a period of three years, provided the employee remains employed by the Company. The Inevitable employees who received restricted shares were: Daryl Allison, Steve Broumley, Russell Byrd, Pete Franco, Craig Galley, Matt Green, Cyrus Lum, Aaron Smischney, Jim Stiefelmaier, Michael Traub, and Andy Thyssen. Based in Austin’s technology corridor, Inevitable Entertainment is an innovative developer of high-quality interactive entertainment products. Established in 2000, Inevitable quickly achieved success through their first effort, the engaging and critically-acclaimed Tribes Aerial Assault which was the first online multiplayer first-person shooter for the PlayStation 2. The studio is currently developing Midway’s AREA 51, which is scheduled for release in the first half of 2005 and features the voice-acting talents of David Duchovny, Powers Boothe and Marilyn Manson. AREA 51 is also expected to be the subject of an upcoming motion picture from Paramount.Source: http://www.xboxaddict.com
