Eidos Interactive
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Eidos Interactive is a publisher of video and computer games based in Britain. Its most well-known game series include Tomb Raider, Commandos, Deus Ex, Legacy of Kain, and Thief.
Founded in 1990 as a company specialising in video compression, Eidos began moving into games in 1995 with the acquisition of Domark (known for 3D Construction Kit, Championship Manager, Hard Drivin', and many others). They also bought out Core Design (probably best known for Chuck Rock, Curse of Enchantia, Heimdall, and Rick Dangerous) and US Gold (Cybercon III, E-Motion, and Out Run).
The company were planning to bring out a RISC OS powered games console prior to the collapse of Acorn Computers as a vendor and the sale of the OS to Pace Micro.
The company maintains offices all around the world, including the United States, Germany, France, Australia and Japan.
On August 3, 2004, the Wall Street Journal reported that Eidos was in preliminary discussions with a small number of companies in relation of a possible business combinations. In early March, 2005 Eidos admitted that cash reserves had dwindled to £11.9m during the second half of 2004 and pre-tax losses had grown to £29m. On March 21, 2005 Eidos received a takeover bid from Elevation Partners, the venture capital group owned by former Electronic Arts president John Riccitiello and additionally has a number of notable partners including U2's lead singer Bono. This takeover valued the company at £71m ($135m), and would inject £23m in order to keep the company solvent in the short term. On March 22, Eidos received a second takeover bid from the British games manufacturer SCi Entertainment. SCi offered £74m ($139m), and tabled a restructuring plan to cut £14m from annual costs. To fund this takeover, SCi proposed to sell £60m worth of stock. Eventually, in late April, Elevation Partners formally withdrew its offer, leaving the way clear for SCi. The takeover was finalised in May.
External links
- Official website (http://www.eidosinteractive.com/).
- Eidos Interactive Forums (http://www.eidosinteractive.com/forums/index.html)
- Elevation Partners (http://www.elevation.com)
- SCi Entertainment (http://www.sci.co.uk/corporate)da:Eidos Interactive