Report: SCi execs in peril

January 14, 2008 10:51AM PST

Sunday Times says investors want the Eidos parent company's founder/CEO and other upper management to step down.

Back in September, Eidos parent company SCi Entertainment announced that it was in "extremely preliminary" talks with a potential acquirer. In the following months, Ubisoft, Time Warner, Midway, and an unnamed Chinese company were all reported as being in talks with the publisher of the Tomb Raider and Hitman franchises. However, last week the publisher announced that it had ended talks about an acquisition, saying it didn't believe it could get full value for its operation. SCi responded by shedding more than half its value in a single day.

While such a turn of events would be a cause for concern for any investor, The Sunday Times is reporting that some Eidos shareholders are demanding resignations from key members of the management team. According to the report, one "top investor" described SCi founder and CEO Jane Cavanagh's position as "untenable," with commercial director Bill Ennis and chairman Tim Ryan also the subject of shareholder ire. According to the report, finance director Phil Rogers is expected to take over as interim CEO should Cavanagh step down.

The Sunday Times also suggests that an SCi acquisition was never close to completion, and sources close to the company said the board didn't receive a single firm offer for the operation. Representatives with Eidos had not returned GameSpot's requests for comment as of press time.

Eidos is not the only publisher to face boardroom upheaval after getting on the wrong side of its shareholders. Last year, a group of Take-Two Interactive investors seized control of the company by voting out the board of directors and replacing the members with their own choices. Before board members were given their walking papers, Take-Two publicly raised the possibility of an acquisition as a last-ditch effort to raise the stock price and satiate angry shareholders. No buyer was found, and the board member change went through as planned.

By Brendan Sinclair, Senior Editor

Brendan Sinclair has been a games journalist since 1999. His tastes are eclectic, though he has a definite affinity for games with arcade roots. He's Canadian, but has also been at home in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Follow Follow @BrendanSinclair

36 comments

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sbaker127

Damn cant they just say if theres a Hitman 5 or not

KriSSp

Oh, s*it! I realy hope that there will be Hitman 5!

deusman

Five bux says this gets pushed back years so they can rework it and build up hype

go-cizmek

Can`t they just relase it already

xander25

well wat do we think is gonna happen in "Hitman 5)cuz blood money did really leave us hangin

zunit88

come on !!!!!! just release hitman 5 and do what ever you want !!

Cablestein

didn't they make Carmageddon? Come on, where's that stuff. blah

theKSMM

What more can be said after the old phony-acquisition-rummor technique doesn't work? "Well, we tried..."

Boda3000

'Sunday Times says investors want the EDIOS parent company's founder/CEO and other upper management to step down.' I wonder what company this Edios is...

Azhar85

i never like eidos game products..they totally..uncivilised...

BlackTargetmark

Aww, well however it will be, hope the game developments go smooth.

smitoraj2008

well ratempa, they saved the tomb raider franchise from utter destruction.

Lane_McNair

I agree with azone12; they should release a new Hitman. Also, a new Deus Ex would be nice.

azone12

a new multiplatform hitman game would help because all of us are still hanging after bloodmoney

gin_rummy89

wow this is not good news. hope this dosen't turn into an Atari situation

ratempa

Who would by Eidos? it's like midway, just barely mediocre.

Nintendo_Man

Unfortunately it won't stop them making another Kaybe and Lynch. Lets hope the shareholders are smart enough and get rid of the board and make Jeff CEO to get them back.

unndead16

Bad things can only lead to more bad things! I think that an internal "purification" is welcomed by all!

drangel_jam

Eidos needs to license midware. It would help them to concentrate on making the games a lot more instead of trying to make great ambitious games out of decent (at best) engines. Even if they'd get money from SCEA or MS for temporary exclusiveness (6-12mos). Or do what Team Ninja is doing with Ninja Gaiden 2, or Epic did with Gears of War. Imagine Rare, Naughty Dog, or Ubi-Soft Montreal making a Tomb Raider (new-gen) game. Now that would have caused another Hollywood movie. For sure!

Noweb_basic

Eidos, not Edios. Fix sub-headline.

earthking

I really want to play Hitman 5. I hope some company would buy them or they go through a merger to survive a bit longer.

RockmanSRD

The whole CNet and K&L deal is such an issolated incident, I doubt it has anything to do with this development. With that said, this most recent development is definitely not good. We need a Hitman 5!

Dreski83

I like to think this has nothing to do with recent events (Kane & Lynch + Cnet) but hopefully future projects from Edios don't stop coming out due to this major hic-up...

hair001

Nice to see them getting their just deserts

eXists

Great news! Well deserved! :D

nintendorocks

A little thing I call karma. See ya SCi. *starts to sing* Na-na-na na-na-na hey hey hey goodbye!

decoy1978

I hope they go under for the crap they pulled over the KnL fiasco.

dr_jashugan

Well Eidos that's what you get when you publish a game as lame as Kane & Lynch and then BRIBE CNet for a good review. 8)

lamprey263

I thought Ubisoft was only a rumored buyer, wasn't it? Anyhow, I hope Ubisoft gets this one. I wonder why nobody is just taking this deal as it is, is SCi tring to get way too much money for this, like the other high profile buyouts?

kori911

Half their value? OUCH! I'd be calling for those board members heads too.

Lum_Yatsura

Eidos FTW. Don't let stuff like this happen again. Please! *Points toward Deus Ex, Tomb Raider Anniversary, Hitman 2...*

SCboy79S

Hmm... looks like they'll have to sell the IP.

krs24rbn

Hey Brendan, you might want to correct the typo in the sub-head. Eidos is spelled Edios.

Canitbe

Mobs? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about or even insinuating.

dynomitemasta

WOW, that's nuts.

AnFangs_Endes

Why do mobs always seem to form whenever anything happens?

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