The roller-coaster ride that has been the story of Midway Games in recent months is finally coasting to an end, one which seems to have calmed down with the $33 million sale of the company and its assets to Time Warner. While much of Midway will continue to exist under the Time Warner banner, it's been revealed that certain former assets (like specific studios and franchises) may not carry on unless another buyer is found for them. One thing that many of us didn't think about, though, was the survivability of Midway's name and logo, which seems like it may be destined to only live on in the history books.

According to Big Download, various members of what was Midway's development studio have revealed that their office has now been renamed Warner Brothers Games Chicago. No mention has been made about keeping the Midway Games logo with any of the recently-acquired studios, as it seems to be something that Warner isn't all that interested in. When Joystiq talked to a company spokesperson about the future of the Midway name, they were told, "They [WB] bought the assets and the trademark and all the copyrights and the logo and all that ... to say the name is dead, it's silly but, ya know, it's premature the company Midway Games, Inc. still exists." This is true, as Midway Newcastle and San Diego are still around, but the studios will only stay open for a few more weeks unless they can find a buyer; even then, it seems unlikely that either studio will keep the Midway name if they manage to get snapped up by someone else.

While it's encouraging to see that many of Midway's former employees are still reliably employed, it's also a bit surreal knowing that the name and logo that's been around for so long might not exist for too much longer. Hopefully, the two remaining studios will be picked up by a publisher and (even more hopefully) get to keep their name in the process.