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SCi slashes 200 jobs, 14 games

By Luke Anderson, Brendan Sinclair, GameSpot UKPosted Feb 29, 2008 11:03 am PT

CEO says "SCi is in need of immediate change" as company sheds 25 percent of headcount, drops more than a dozen in-development projects.

It wasn't so long ago that Eidos was on its way up. The publisher successfully resuscitated the moribund Tomb Raider franchise with Tomb Raider: Legend, saw its CEO Jane Cavanagh receive an OBE from the Queen, and entered preliminary discussions to be acquired.

The publisher's fortunes have turned again, as the acquisition talks dried up, Cavanagh resigned under shareholder pressure, and now the company's prepping for a round of layoffs. New CEO Phil Rogers today unveiled a restructuring plan that will trim a quarter of the company's staff--some 200 people--with 14 unspecified games canceled because they were "unlikely to generate an acceptable return on investment or are not of appropriate quality." The company plans to reduce its annual operating costs by £14 million (approx $28 million) by the end of June, resulting in a one-off cost of £7 million ($14 million).

Roger's turnaround plan is threefold; to change the structure from a "centrally controlled development and publishing model to a studio-led business focused around cornerstone products, such as Tomb Raider, Hitman, Championship Manager, and Deus Ex"; to create a new brand, Eidos Play, focusing on casual gaming; and to make its distribution processes more flexible and efficient.

"To get SCi on track we have to act rapidly and effect change quickly," said Rogers. "We must allow the world-class people that we have within the Group to focus on strong, profitable titles which will create the value our shareholders deserve... I am confident our staff share this vision and excitement for the future, and determination to build a working environment where our innovation and creativity can be commercially realised."

SCi also indirectly addressed the recent rash of mergers and acquisitions in the industry, saying that the board of directors isn't "encouraging offers" for the company. However, given the consolidating industry around it, SCi will consider any "sensible offer... or proposal for crystallising value for some of the group's IP..."

Along with the restructuring plan, SCi laid out its financial results for the six months ended December 31, 2007. The numbers back up Rogers' call for immediate change. Despite a record-setting holiday season for the industry, revenues for the period were down about 2 percent to £73 million ($146 million). And thanks to £79.6 million ($159 million) in development costs, SCi posted mounting operating losses of £81.4 million ($162 million), up 350 percent from £17.9 million ($36 million) posted over the same period the year before.

117 Comments

  • prico07

    Posted Mar 2, 2009 2:44 pm PT

    Does anybody leave their computer chair long enough to notice the economic decline we are going through. Of course they are going to scrap rubbish games, they are going to carry on with the good games that are going to make money, why do any of us care how much of a profit they are going to make because making the better games is going to benefit us

  • Jondavisx

    Posted Jan 17, 2009 1:18 am PT

    Hey Raidumn, did you ever stop to think that if they didn't make cut backs and lay people off, that their entire company could go into chapter 11 and everyone on there staff would be out of work.

  • stalepretzels

    Posted Jan 15, 2009 7:20 pm PT

    Man, I hope that Thief 4 wasn't one of those games that they canceled, assuming that they were working on it. I would CRY A FREAKING LAKE.

    I hope that they don't go under. Then we will have no hope of ever seeing another Thief game.

  • Krazy-K

    Posted Dec 7, 2008 11:30 pm PT

    You got to do what you got to do to stay alive. Hopefully the Tomb Raider and Hitman franchises will stay alive as well.

  • Raiden1000002

    Posted Dec 2, 2008 10:52 am PT

    i always hated eidos they only care about $$$ (you can tell cause they keep making tomb raiders so often) the only cool game they made was deus ex

  • Strigidae

    Posted Nov 20, 2008 12:37 am PT

    I guess I understand if they have to start making horrible games to save the company/Tomb Raider/Hitman.

  • ParaBellum71

    Posted Oct 6, 2008 8:09 am PT

    Proves that a company would rather go mainstream then actualy put the effort in to produce a rare game like deus ex or chronicles of riddick or any other game that you didnt expect to be good but the next day you go out and buy it because apperently its the new cat's meow.

  • bokaj70

    Posted Apr 15, 2008 8:40 am PT

    Profit for them selves are top priority to stay in buisness at all and a basis for making value to costumers. This applies for all in this industry and just in general .. don't be naive.

  • cruisin4bruisin

    Posted Mar 11, 2008 1:42 pm PT

    it's too bad they aren't seeing the big picture. it sounds like they are more concerned about turning a profit for themselves and their shareholders than they are about providing value to consumers.

  • TrueProphecy22

    Posted Mar 10, 2008 1:39 pm PT

    They seem to forget that all those 'big profit' titles began just like those 14 unspecified games they dropped... fresh new ideas in programmers heads.

    It's a shame, we are obviously not going to see anything fresh and new or entirely entertaining from SCi any more.

  • CureTheWorld666

    Posted Mar 5, 2008 11:50 am PT

    wow. all that guy said was " we don't care about making a game for the sake of making a good game, all we care about is how much money we get out of it." which is understandable that he'd want to make money , but to the exclusion of all else? that's not good. thats your standard corporation corruption right there. it starts with the layoff. ruining hundreds of lives. then the constant obsession with profit above the welfare of your employees and sometimes even your customers. i really hope it doesn't get that far. they'd better not have dropped Just Cause 2 it's one of the best games coming out this year.
    and who wants casual gaming?hardcore gamers are gonna be left out in the cold! that's horrible! i want games like JC2, DAH3, Prototype, GTA4, The Darkness2 Estacado's Wrath(i made that up) another Armored Core, and another Assassins Creed before the year is up! cmon! crappy games like Viewtiful Joe1-2 came out within a month of each other! (i have 2 subsequent issues of PSMag and there's an ad for Joe 1 one the first and an ad for Joe 2 on the second. Natch.) i mean look at Lair. one bad mistake and the whole game crashed.. maybe this is SCi's bad mistake. but we'll have to see, won't we.

  • alberto2045

    Posted Mar 3, 2008 7:41 pm PT

    what I just read that they were coming out with a new Tomb Raider are they dropping it also

  • Avenger1324

    Posted Mar 3, 2008 3:48 pm PT

    no we don't want casual games.

    The people who were around when tomb raider, hitman, Champ Man and Deus Ex all began have outgrown your "casual" games. We are all 10 years older than we were, so don't expect casual kiddy games for people with the attention span of an amnesiac gnat.

  • Obliterati

    Posted Mar 3, 2008 3:41 pm PT

    Ha. After their recent antics, here and elsewhere, I can't say I feel sorry for them. Maybe this new CEO will inspire some fresh ideas, like actually making games that don't suck, and responsible advertising. That would be novel.

  • Lost_forgotten

    Posted Mar 3, 2008 2:03 pm PT

    I hope they put out a new Legacy of Kain game, if they don't it is the biggest mistake they could make.

  • Jshaw71

    Posted Mar 3, 2008 1:18 pm PT

    rise and fall of sci, i hope things will be better for them, it's too bad, they had to lay off their employees, deus ex returning sounds good, but it's been a long time comming, they shouldn't have focused on tomb raider as a supporting title for such a long time, hopefully the next deus ex title will be better than the second one, and return to the ideas that made deus ex 1 such a great game...

  • walrus1

    Posted Mar 3, 2008 10:51 am PT

    How about they return to making good games like the first deus ex? And not crappy spin off titles?

  • NandoSupes

    Posted Mar 3, 2008 10:39 am PT

    @lowerpass

    I agree with you totally make good games!!,not some crappy title, that is going to be horrible.I'm sorry but it serves them well,Kane and Lynch is not revolutionary at all the game is a good example.well I guess they might be out of business soon,and I hope not ,I really do,but you need to make AAA titles to survive in the industry.

  • lowerpass

    Posted Mar 3, 2008 9:47 am PT

    please for god sake we do not want any more caual games. It is really
    hurting the hardcore gamers like us. We want games like Hitman 5, Legacy of kain not games like wario ware because they suck.!!

  • ObiKKa

    Posted Mar 3, 2008 9:44 am PT

    Also the fact that they're now going to respect the developers (studios) ever more it does help to uplift my hopes that Deus Ex 3 will be something really special. Probably not that special, but very mature, & polished, nonetheless, though I do realise that the gameplay mechanics can be dumbed down a bit to work on the consoles, unfortunately.

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