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Rumor: Eidos lays off marketing, PR, and sales departments following Warner Bros. investment
Our hearts were warmed to hear of SCi's seeming salvation as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment acquired 171 million shares in the floundering company (for nearly £60 million) -- an investment that would "benefit of all [their] major franchises" and put the once-great publisher Eidos back on the map. However, according to 1UP, a number of insiders have reported that this act of gaming industry cartography could have some far less publicized consequences.Much like the pushy girlfriend who doesn't allow you to bring your autographed Erasure poster into your new apartment, Eidos may have recently kicked their entire marketing, public relations, and sales departments to the curb following their Warner Bros. bailout, according to the 1UP tipsters. Whether this was a stipulation of the WB deal, or a continuation of SCi's systematic operating cost reduction (or if the information is even legit), we're not sure. We just hope they don't fire the one guy who wants to make a Mister Mosquito sequel.
SCi/Eidos admits takeover talks
It seems that somebody wants to buy the company behind Eidos, which owns the rights to Tomb Raider, Hitman and many other game franchises. SCi Entertainment, parent company of Eidos, confirms that they are in discussions of a buyout. Shares rose 13% on the news, but no official proposal was made yet. SCi acquired Eidos right as E3 2005 started. According to Gamasutra, in January of 2006 there were already takeover talks of SCi, including Midway and Vivendi.Although those talks apparently ended early last year, the rumor mill had it that Time Warner was now interested in them, this led to a licensing agreement. It'll be interesting to find out who wants to buy Ms. Croft and Agent 47. Eidos has definitely seen an upturn in recent years, so hopefully whoever buys them will only continue down that path.
Warner Bros. buys 10% of SCi
Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Time Warner (who owns our parent company, Weblogs Inc.) is moving its way back into the gaming development business. Not since the Atari days in the 1980s has Warner held any serious hold in the game development front. Now it would seem that there are changes afoot. Warner Bros. purchased a 10% interest in SCi Entertainment, better known to the world as Eidos, for £44.5 million (roughly $87 million). The new deal will give SCi access to Warner's long list of IPs; the list includes Looney Tunes and Batman. Apart from Batman and possible improved leverage with DC Comics (another Time Warner subsidiary), SCi may want to be careful about overusing the licenses (Harry Potter was, oddly, not mentioned). Looney Tunes, while widely recognized, rarely translates into a quality gaming experience. If SCi can come up with some original content, Warner Bros. can use them for movies, not just a one way benefit.
