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Eidos Buyout Offer Results in Competing Bids

Posted by Zonk on from the dogs-after-a-steak dept.

Pluvius writes "Eidos, the UK-based publisher of such well-known franchises as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and Hitman, is the subject of competing buyout bids after announcing in August its plans to put itself up for sale after lower-than-expected earnings. Though rumors abounded that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp was interested in such a deal, it turns out that the two main rivals in this buyout are SCi Entertainment, publisher of an assortment of games including Conflict: Desert Storm, and Elevation Partners, a US venture group containing such diverse figures as former EA president John Riccitiello and U2 lead singer Bono. SCi currently has the upper hand, with a 74.1 million pound offer (as well as the support of Eidos' biggest shareholder) beating out Elevation's 71 million pounds. It might not be News Corp, but it's still interesting."

11 comments

  1. Anyone but EA and NEWS CORP by FidelCatsro · · Score: 1

    Well having a look at the offers , i think it would be grand if SCI got the deal .
    They are in the industry and have released a load of classics in their time(gold box , i think this is the same SCI if so then they know a good thing when they see it) so would probably do quite well with the eidos licenses.
    Though i wouldnt mind if the elevation group won .

    The main thing though would be that i would like to see eidos remain an entity , and would be far happier if it stayed EU based and owned , there are far too few EU based publishing houses .
    SCI is uk based, has experiance in the industry and a combination of SCI and eidos would make them more of a major player in the market. Right now we need more companys with some clout to stop EA buying all the licenses and churing out awfull tripe and clone-me-do games .
    I dread to think what would hapen if NEWS CORP bought out eidos. News crap are generaly known for owning some of the worst Lowest Commen Denominator newspapers and TV channels in the world(Im just bitter they canceld futurama , well its more than that ) Whilst i would love some great simpsons licensed games(for a change a good one would be nice) , I cant shake the feeling that i would rather limit Rupert murdochs influence rather than extend his reach to games

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    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    1. Re:Anyone but EA and NEWS CORP by PedanticSpellingTrol · · Score: 1

      What never ceases to amaze me is that Fox News Channel is always the first to jump all over every little "OMG BOOBIES" or "OMG MISCEGENATION" story about slutty television leading to the collapse of western civilization, while Fox Broadcasting practically created the niche and continues to push the envelope. The punk kids who savage my lawn today might not know it, but when The Simpsons premeired some 16 years ago, it was derided as the greatest force of demonic power since Abraham Lincoln.

    2. Re:Anyone but EA and NEWS CORP by FidelCatsro · · Score: 1

      I have no problem with smut and violence (Just read shakspear or most greek mytholigy ) but i like my smut and violence to have a great plot , Fox , Sky ,the sun newspaper etc and all the other news corp crap really does not , sure they have some great TV shows ( which i buy on dvd as i dont have a tv able to recive broadcasts , crippled so i dont have to pay a license fee)like the simpsons but the rest of the stuff i have seen is just dire reality TV and shows which make WWE smackdown seem like "the sky at night"(BBC show about astronomy).We do not need more companys churning out games like this , EA does enough of that for the whole world.
      Another thing which gets me about NEWSCORP is having seen some fox news storys a freind sent me , is how the hell they have not had their license to broadcast taken away , jebus talk about bias and plain all out lies .I thought CNN was bad for that , but after seing Fux news I really did have to wonder how the hell they got away with it , it was not subtle it was out and out lies and bias.

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      The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
    3. Re:Anyone but EA and NEWS CORP by generic-man · · Score: 1

      Wow. It's almost like different groups of people are allowed to express different opinions.

      Fox Broadcasting, for example, has aired "Cops" for the last 15+ years. That's a show basically designed to glorify law enforcement by showing what real cops do. More recently they aired tons of "World's Wildest Police Chases" shows that all end with Sgt. John Bunnell spouting some catch phrase about how crime doesn't pay. At the same time, some of their comedy shows (particularly The Simpsons) include police-officer characters that are very stupid.

      Hey, a TV network is creating a diverse portfolio of shows that do not all parrot the company line. Someone call Jon Stewart quick!

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    4. Re:Anyone but EA and NEWS CORP by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      Realistically, how much worse could Eidos get? Okay, they could reach ValuSoft quality but that's just a tiny step for them.

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      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    5. Re:Anyone but EA and NEWS CORP by chromaphobic · · Score: 1

      Realistically, how much worse could Eidos get?

      Probably not much worse, Tomb Raider: Angel Of Darkness pretty much hit bottom. Worst. Game. Ever. Unbelievable that they're wasting the cash to even TRY and follow it up.

      Hopefully, whoever buys Eidos will perform a mercy killing on the TR franchise. Give Lara the shotgon blast to the head, Old Yeller style. The last game sucked (hell, the last two or three TR games sucked) and the last movie sucked (not that the first one was that great either.) The franchise is dead, move on.

  2. touch of death by Dreamwalkerofyore · · Score: 2, Funny

    Eidos is like a mansion in a corny horror movie: anything that goes in dies. Ion Storm gets to play the part of the black dude.

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    1. Re:touch of death by Lisandro · · Score: 1

      Ion Storm gets to play the part of the black dude.

      And Looking Glass is the sporty testosterone guy who goes to see if the monster is really dead.

  3. you forgot the best one! by grub · · Score: 3, Informative

    such well-known franchises as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and Hitman

    What about Thief, Thief 2 and Thief: Deadly Shadows? I've played more Thief than the listed 3 series combined.

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    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:you forgot the best one! by superpulpsicle · · Score: 1

      Thief was alright, though I don't think it's a game that put people on the pre-order list. Hitman was downright aweful in the sense that it was about as unoriginal as it gets. I was shocked to find out there was even a sequel made. TR is done, it's got the most shallow gameplay, plot, action.

      EA should buy them out for the sake of owning even more of the market. Well, actually I'd just like to see them have even more financial burden. This is a pretty big one.

    2. Re:you forgot the best one! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From what I've heard, the first Hitman (PC) was indeed pretty awful. I've personally played Silent Assassin and Contracts and I think from those, 47 is my favorite game character.

      The gameplay is nice -- just enough stealth to not be careless, yet free-form enough so I can blast my way through if that's what I wished to do. The perl-like "There's more than one way" mantra is also pretty neat as finding multiple ways to dispose of a target adds to the replay value.

      I like the planning and scheming -- the thrill of walking up to the target unrecognized, dropping them, and disappearing out of the scene. Then replaying the mission with a minigun or dual sawn-offs. :)