sci

Report: Mass Layoffs Hit Eidos

9:20AM Michael McWhertor | SCi, the parent company of Tomb Raider publisher Eidos, got a cash injection from its investment buddies at Warner Bros., the company announced today. The $US120 million bailout is good news for SCi, but not so much for Eidos, as 1UP writes today that “sources have informed 1UP that Eidos’s entire PR, marketing, and sales department has been laid off as part of the deal with Warner Bros.” Yikes! That must be the translation of SCi CEO Phil Rogers “I want more distribution muscle in North America” statement. Eidos’ parent company announced earlier this year that it would be laying off 25% of its staff and killing fourteen projects, focusing on “cornerstone” titles like Tomb Raider, Hitman, Championship Manager and Deus Ex. Layoffs at Eidos in Light of Warner Bros. Deal? [1UP] Lara Croft creator SCi gets cash boost [Reuters] More »

SCi Kills 14 Projects, Cutting 25 Percent of Staff

1:53AM Brian Crecente | SCi, developers of Tomb Raider, Hitman and Deus Ex, have canceled 14 of their projects and plan on laying off 200 people and cutting their annual operating costs by £14 million as part of a company restructuring plan meant to get SCi back on track. “Following our business review over the last six weeks, we are initiating a clear action plan based on three fundamental strands of activity: a radical change in our structure to a studio-led business, a top to bottom programme of product improvement and efficiency and a considerable cost reduction plan,” Phil Rogers, Chief Executive of SCi Entertainment Group said, in a prepared statement. “To get SCi on track we have to act rapidly and effect change quickly. 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.” A chief part of that plan is a fundamental change to the way the company does business with SCi shifting from the current centrally-controlled development and publishing model to a studio-led one, similar to the labels model that EA moved to last year. Under the new structure, SCI would have studios based around “cornerstone products” like Tomb Raider, Hitman, Championship Manager and Deus Ex. The company is also creating an Eidos PLAY studio which will “fuse together casual and new media resources.” Finally, production services will form part of the studio group and be relocated to Montreal from London. I blame the Wii… well that and a company that has essentially been living off of three franchises for nearly two decades. SCi Corporate More »

Market Losses Hurt Games Companies Too, You Know

10:00PM Luke Plunkett | Thanks to a shaky US economy, global stocks are taking a swan dive. Doesn’t affect you? Maybe not directly, but remember, platform holders and publishers are almost all publicly-held companies. And surely you care about them, at least in an impersonal, “oh, that’s a shame” kind of way. Anyways, in the wake of big falls in the US, Japanese and European markets, the following games companies have all lost a sizeable pile of cash: Ubisoft (down 11.5%), Sony (down 3.5%), Microsoft (down 3%), Take-Two (down 3%) and SCi (down 7.8%). Think of all those generic sequels and hardware colour variations, lost! Worldwide Stock Dive Hurts Publishers [1UP] More »

Highlander – There Can Be Only Several

5:20AM Kotaku US Edition | How many freaking MacLeods are their? First we had Connor MacLeod, who confused us through several movies. Then Duncan MacLeod, Connor’s younger clansman shows up for the TV series and a movie stint. Now the Eidos game for the Xbox 360, PS2, and Games for Windows reportedly features Owen MacLeod. Whatever continuity you follow, this is beginning to get silly. This trailer for the upcoming title was included on the DVD for SciFi’s Highlander: The Source TV movie. Seeing as SCi has been tooling around with the franchise for years, let’s hope that something fruitful is finally coming of their ownership – and that the company lasts long enough to release it. Highlander The Game Trailer (2008) [YouTube via PSU] More »

Tomb Raider Publisher Hits “Rock Bottom”

12:00AM Brian Ashcraft | SCi Entertainment Group PLC, publisher of Tomb Raider, announced it won’t turn a profit. The company’s stock is at an 18 year low as it’s in talks with potential investors interested in taking over the company. The company itself doesn’t believe it will be sold for its full value. Huge European bank ABN AMRO has this to say about SCi Entertainment: Management credibility is rock bottom, given heavy use of questionable provisions, failure to achieve release targets, at a time when market is booming. Ouch. SCi Woes [Bloomberg] More »