Midway Newcastle Facing Closure

You know, we liked The Wheelman. There was plenty of potential there and as a sum of its parts it was actually a really decent game – so it’s with sadness that we’ve learnt that the studio, based in Newcastle, is days away from closure. Midway Newcastle’s hopes, then, are hinged on Necessary Force, another open world title based on the same tech as The Wheelman, but obviously much more advanced.

“100 percent of my efforts and focus are on finding a solution to keep the studio going forward, making it viable and securing jobs in the team,” Midway Newcastle’s studio head Craig Duncan said to The Guardian today. “It may sound like a football cliché but this studio is too good a team to have to shut down – it would be a travesty.”

On newly revealed multi-format title Necessary Force, he remains optimistic. “When we presented the new game everyone loved it and was really impressed with our proposition. What counts against us is the timeframe and the fact the market is tough currently for both investors and games companies.”  Speaking to Develop, Duncan said “The whole industry is struggling, really.”

“A lot of the people we’ve spoken to have said that if we were asking a year ago, they’d have bought us in a heartbeat. My focus is 100 per cent on finding a buyer.”  There’s little us gamers can do besides show our support for the studio – make sure everyone knows about Necessary Force and with some luck a publisher will pick up the game and save the jobs of the talented guys at Midway Newcastle.