Midway Studios Austin

COMPANY

Originally Inevitable Entertainment, Midway Studios Austin was the studio responsible for Midway's Area 51 reboot and its sequel Blacksite: Area 51. The studio was shuttered in December 2008.

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Midway Studios Austin was originally founded in March 2000 by three former employees of Acclaim Entertainment -- Russell Byrd, Cyrus Lum and Craig Galley as the independent studio Inevitable Entertainment. 

The studio first developed Tribes: Aerial Assault, a console adaption of the popular Tribes series which was released in 2002, as well as the Xbox and Gamecube ports of Defender -- a re imagining of the 1980 Midway classic arcade game. The year after, in 2003 they would release The Hobbit, a platform game based on the fantasy novel of the same name. Later, in 2004 while in the process of developing the first person shooter game Area-51 (Game) the studio, then known Inevitable Entertainment, was purchased by Midway Games and renamed Midway Studios Austin. Area 51 was released in April 2005, and eventually spawned a sequel which was also developed by Midway Studios Austin dubbed Blacksite: Area 51 which was released in late 2007.

In August 2008 the studio, which had already begun work on a new game suffered layoffs of up to 130 of its employees -- as well as the cancellation of the game "Criminal" that was currently in development. 4 months later, in December of the same year the studio closed down completely, laying off all of the remaining employees. Midway Games released a statement the day of the studio closure, which expressed the decision was made as a result of cost cutting measures.

Developed Games

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Area-51 (Game)

25 April 2005

Area 51 for the Xbox, Playstation 2, and PC takes place in top secret base, Area 51 where you and your team were on a recon mission. All goes wrong and you end up on your own; left to venture further to escape, and uncover the truth behind it all.

PC​ PS2​ XBOX​

Tribes: Aerial Assault (Game)

23 September 2002

Tribes: Aerial Assault is an online FPS released in 2002. It had a pretty big cult following for several years, but recently it's become a rarity to see anyone playing it online at all.

PS2​

The Hobbit (Game)

10 November 2003

The Hobbit is a 3D action-adventure platformer based on J. R. R. Tolkien's prequel to The Lord of the Rings.

GBA​ PC​ PS2​ +2

Published Games

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Company details

Name

Midway Studios Austin

Abbreviation

Founded

Website

Aliases

Inevitable Entertainment

Developed Games

• Area-51 (Game)
• Tribes: Aerial Assault (Game)
• The Hobbit (Game)
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Published Games

• None
• view all →

Franchises

• Area 51 (Franchise)
• Defender (Franchise)
• Earthsiege (Franchise)
• The Lord of the Rings (Franchise)
• Tribes (Franchise)

People

• Clive Revill (Person)
• Daran Norris (Person)
• Dave Adams (Person)
• Jennifer Hale (Person)
• Michael Beattie (Person)
• Rod Abernethy (Person)
• Tom Kane (Person)
• Wally Wingert (Person)

Characters

• Balin (Character)
• Bard the Bowman (Character)
• Bilbo Baggins (Character)
• Bombur (Character)
• Dwalin (Character)
• Ethan Cole (Character)
• Gandalf (Character)
• Gollum (Character)
• Smaug (Character)
• Thorin Oakenshield (Character)
• Thranduil (Character)

Concepts

• Bink Video (Concept)
• Crosshair (Concept)
• Death (Concept)
• First-Person Perspective (Concept)
• Human (Concept)
• A.I. Companion (Concept)
• Alien (Concept)
• Boss Fight (Concept)
• Camping (Concept)
• Capture the Flag (Concept)
• Cutscene (Concept)
• Direct2Drive (Concept)
• Greys (Concept)
• Headshot (Concept)
• Health (Concept)
• Leaderboard (Concept)
• Light Up Crosshair (Concept)
• Online (Concept)
• Polygonal 3D (Concept)
• Ragdoll Physics (Concept)

Locations

• Area 51 (Location)
• Cave (Location)
• Iraq (Location)
• Jupiter (Location)
• Lone Lands (Location)
• Mars (Location)
• Mercury (Location)
• Middle-earth (Location)
• Mirkwood (Location)
• Neptune (Location)
• Nevada (Location)
• Pluto (Location)
• Saturn (Location)
• Space (Location)
• The Moon (Location)
• The Shire (Location)
• The United States of America (Location)
• Uranus (Location)
• Venus (Location)

Objects

• Pistol (Object)
• Sniper Rifle (Object)
• Ammo (Object)
• Crate (Object)
• Explosives (Object)
• Flare (Object)
• Gloves (Object)
• Missile (Object)
• Oil Drum (Object)
• Scope (Object)
• Submachine Gun (Object)
• Switch (Object)
• Tank (Object)
• Arcade Cabinet (Object)
• Assault Rifle (Object)
• Auto Shotgun (Object)
• Automated Sentry Gun (Object)
• Barrel (Object)
• Battle Dress Uniform (Object)
• Coin (Object)