Take-Two squeezing Juiced?

The Grand Theft Auto publisher is in negotiations to pay $10 million for Acclaim' s street racer.

When Acclaim declared bankruptcy at the beginning of the month, the games on its release schedule were left hanging in limbo.

One of the highest-profile titles was Juiced, from British developer Juice Games. The tricked-out street racer had received good notices in the press, and was one of the best prospects to turn Acclaim' s flailing finances around. Obviously, that didn' t happen. Following Acclaim' s official bankruptcy filings, Juice Games began actively shopping the game around to other publishers.

Now, it appears it' s found one. Officials from Take-Two Interactive confirmed for GameSpot today that they have reached a tentative agreement to buy the publishing rights to Juiced. Under the terms of the proposed deal, which was first revealed in the New York Daily News, Take-Two would pay $8.125 million for the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 rights for Juiced, and could pay up to $1.875 million in royalties if the game sold well.

While a tidy sum, none of said money would go to Acclaim. The Scottish game-development agency Fund4Games, which bankrolled much of Juiced' s development, would receive $4.5 million. The rest would go to Acclaim' s primary creditor, GMAC financial, which is still owed $23 million by the once high-flying publisher.

However, nothing is final at this point. Take-Two is still reserving the right to retract the offer, and Acclaim is open to bids from other companies until September 30. GameSpot will have more details on the Take-Two Juiced deal as they become available.

By Tor Thorsen -- GameSpot