Stranglehold biggest this Xmas

Midway's European MD Martin Spiess has told GamesIndustry.biz the publisher is investing USD 30 million in upcoming action game Stranglehold.

Spiess claims the new IP could be the most expensive next-generation game in development, but is confident that come the September release the massive investment will pay off, with retail and consumers already very positive about the title.

"[Stranglehold cost] around USD 30 million, so it's possibly the most expensive next-generation game in development to date," said Spiess, in an interview to be published next week.

"The early indications from retail and the consumers are there, so it is going to pay off."

"In order to recoup development money you obviously have to sell a lot of units, but what we're seeing to date is that we will sell those units. Stranglehold will be the top selling title this Christmas," claimed Spiess.

The title has been developed in collaboration with Hollywood director John Woo and action icon Chow Yun-Fat. Pitched as a sequel to the 1992 movie Hard Boiled, the limited edition PlayStation 3 version of the game will include the original film on the Blu-ray disc.

And Spiess is confident that Stranglehold will offer a new experience for next-gen machines, rather than the equivalent of a PC game tweaked for the home console market.

"From a playability standpoint and a technology standpoint, we're delivering something which has not been done before - true next-gen for the first time, rather than just having some PC game ported onto next-gen with higher resolution graphics," he said.