It seems eidos lost a lot of money (suprise suprise) and just barely got 23 million pounds in funding (won't last long). They have until the end of march to be bought or sold, then selling of intellectual properties will begin. So, let's have a poll ! here's the article: Eidos on the brink as investors flee sinking ship Patrick Garratt 11:01 10/03/2005 New Tomb Raider and Hitman titles held back to fiscal 2006, too. Eidos released its six-month results today for the period ending December 31, 2004, showing an operating loss of GBP 29.2 million. Shares dropped of more than 30 per cent yesterday ahead of the news. The company also confirmed that it received a buy-out offer earlier this month and that a deal is still possible. A "proposal received on 2 March 2005 of a possible cash offer at a price of 53 pence per share, subject to one principal condition," was made, according to a statement made to the City this morning. "However there can be no assurance that this condition will be satisfied and no certainty that an offer will be made nor as to the terms on which any offer might be made. This disclosure has not been made with the consent of the other party." "Given the financial position and standalone prospects for the Company, it is the Board's current intention to recommend this offer to shareholders if it is made," said Eidos chairman John van Kuffeler. Shares in Eidos were trading at an all-time low this morning, down to 35.5p on the back of heavy trading. A new credit line of GBP 23 million has been secured with RBS to see Eidos through the coming weeks, with the company showing net cash funds of GBP 11.8 million at 31 December 2004, down from GBP 58.1 million from the previous year. The situation for Eidos is now desperate. "If an offer for the Company has not been announced in accordance with Rule 2.5 of the Takeover Code or alternative funding has not been put in place by 25 March 2005, or if any such offer lapses, RBS has the right to require the Company to undertake an orderly disposal of assets, and/or intellectual property, of an amount equal to the facility plus associated fees," the statement continued. "In that event, and if such disposal is not agreed by 22 April 2005, the adequacy of the Company's working capital facilities cannot be assured." In other bad news, Eidos confirmed that new Hitman and Tomb Raider games have slipped to fiscal 2006, with a "strategic decision" having been taken to delay the next titles in both series from fiscal 2005, which ends on June 30th. Eidos's leading product for the half year was Shellshock: Nam '67, which achieved sales of over 900,000 units worldwide.
Good riddance, I say. They published Deus Ex. That's the only good game I can recall coming out of there. The original Tomb Raider was pretty nice, come to think of it, but still - they only published it. Were they only a publisher, or a developer as well?
It'll be funny if RBS end up owning them like just before they're about to release some games, and they actually decide to release the games themselves for some silly reaosn. "Tomb Raider 7: A Royal Bank of Scotland Game" OK, that will never happen...
Hah, from what I hear, it can't be much worse than Tomb Raider 6 (wasn't it some bland name like "Angel of Darkness"?).
Yeah, they earned every single millimeter of shaft they get up themselves - by publishing sub-par crap.
hmm a UK based company ...... now whers this auction going to be? *prepares to blow student overdraft x 2*
the only good thing from eidos was Deus Ex, but if i remember right it was made by ion studios and only published by eidos. anyway, a compagny (EA?) will vertainly buy their franchises and stuff, so i voted third.
I thought the first and second games were good (third was okay), but it took a rapid decline by the fourth game.
I voted that some said fuckers will buy them. Probably EA. makes sense that shite would by more shit just so they could become the greatest shit out there. I always thought of Eidos as the British EA. Yep, full of it !! Shit that is Yakumo
Eidos was nowhere near as predatory as EA is though, they don't deserve that comparison. Output was mostly crap yeah, but that's another thing.
Edios is doomed. Talk about bad business decisions. Not like they didn't try, they had two movies based off Tomb Raider, toys, lunchboxes, etc. I remember seeing Laura Croft on that 100ft TV screen on the U2 Pop tour. Don't tell me they didn't make a shit load of money off this stuff. Thier last game sold nine hundred thousand units? And they're still going bankrupt? Lets see, 900,000 x $50 per game = 45,000,000. I know that's just retail gross, but still, you'd think you could keep a company floating when you sell those kind of numbers. Don't most game companies only sell between ten to one hundred thousand units for a "hit?" So much wasted potential. Pathetic.