Midway Signs Cartoon Network Deal

Officials from Midway Games have announced that the company has signed three publishing agreements with Cartoon Network to create video games based on children’s programs Ed, Edd ‘n’ Eddy, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Dexter’s Laboratory. Although not necessarily Cartoon Network’s most high profile properties, Midway have also gained the license to produce games based on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim programs Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Brak Show, Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law, Sealab 2021 and Space Ghost Coast to Coast. These programs are aimed at an older audience that would certainly coincide with important video game demographics. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of these two deals though is the rampant speculation last year that Midway would be gifted the license to Nickelodeon properties, after Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone bought a majority personal share in the games publisher. This new deal with Cartoon Network, who are in turn owned by Warner Bros., would seem to make additional cartoon licensing unlikely (not least because the two rivals networks would not want to be licensed to the same game publisher) and will likely mean that THQ will retain the majority of Nickelodeon licenses going forward.