December 13, 2005
Majesco Sells The Darkness, Ghost Rider To New Publisher Troubled game publisher Majesco has announced that it has sold all of its rights and obligations related to the game titles
The Darkness and
GhostRider to a currently unnamed video game publisher. According to an official statement from Majesco, this sales included all of Majesco's agreements with the licensors and developers for these titles, and Majesco received proceeds of $8.0 million as a result of the transaction.
Specifically,
The Darkness has been in development for next-gen consoles at Swedish
Chronicles Of Riddick developer Starbreeze, and is licensed from the Top Cow comic of the same name. According to reports from earlier this year, development studio Climax (
Sudeki) is working on
Ghost Rider, licensed from Marvel, for a summer 2006 release to coincide with the release of a movie version starring Nicholas Cage.
Majesco has
recently come under increasing pressure as a result of a largely failed attempt to transition from value publisher to a major console publishing force - at lass update, the company anticipates net revenues of just $60 - $65 million for the year, and losses of a gigantic $40 - $45 million, following disappointing sales for major products such as
Advent Rising and
Psychonauts, and this is likely the reason for such a drastic move.
The company also commented that this sale "...affords the Company added flexibility with which to pursue additional opportunities and execute initiatives related to its core business", but it also removes two of the most notable products from the company's future release schedule. However, Majesco still has current or forthcoming games on its roster including
Jaws Unleashed,
Aeon Flux and
Teen Titans, and has promised to update further on its financial situation in a January 2006 conference call on its latest fiscal results.
POSTED: 1.43pm PST, 12/13/05 - Simon Carless
