Good news has arrived for those Midway employees at the Midway San Diego studio! The Midway San Diego studio has been saved from the brink of closure by none other than THQ. In a surprise move, THQ has purchased the Midway San Diego studio from Midway for $200,000 plus liabilities and paid time off for retained staff. THQ has to retain at least 40 employees from the San Diego facility, but the studio has almost 100 total employees so it is possible that some could still find their way to the street in the end.

What might be more surprising is what is not part of the deal, according to our sources; the deal with THQ does not include the rights to the TNA Wrestling franchise, the tools that Midway San Diego used to develop the TNA Wrestling franchise, or any of the actual code from the TNA Wrestling game itself. Basically, from what our sources tell us, if it has anything to do with the TNA Wrestling franchise it is not part of this deal to purchase Midway San Diego.

What is puzzling is what THQ might have planned for Midway San Diego in the future. The studio was hard at work on the second TNA Wrestling title, but now that work will end and it is assumed that the studio will start work on a new title. THQ currently holds the rights to both the WWE Wrestling and UFC fighting games, and the company has not commented whether they wish to extend the UFC title to new platforms. It is unknown yet if this what might be in the future for the San Diego studio, but it is possible.

So, the rights to the TNA Wrestling franchise are still up in the air and the assets are still available for purchase, according to our sources. However, it looks that since THQ was able to at least get some resolution to their dispute with Jaaks that they will not be in the market to purchase the TNA Wrestling franchise rights. It had been rumored that THQ was likely the most interested party in gaining these rights before the recent Jaaks ruling, which seemed to have put them in a better position to continue work on the WWE wrestling titles going forward.

As for Midway’s German and French publishing companies, these divisions have been sold in a management buy out. Right now our sources know very little about what these publishing divisions might be doing in the future, but the divisions have been sold.

As for Midway, there is not much left to sell, according to our sources. The majority of the assets have now been sold or buyers have been identified for the remaining assets. It would seem that the final end of Midway is close at hand now. We hear some whispers that a couple of things that are left for sale are not drawing a lot of attention, but final decision will be made in the next couple of weeks. While the news is good for the employees at Midway San Diego, it is still sad that Midway could not find a buyer to help save the number of jobs lost at Midway Newcastle. The bigger of the two remaining assets would appear to be the Necessary Force IP from Midway Newcastle and the rights to the TNA Wrestling franchise, including the work-in-progress of the TNA Wrestling sequel that was in development at Midway San Diego, according to our sources.