Category Archives: SCi

SCi’s changed its name to Eidos, GI reports. The effective date of the change will be announced later.

The struggling firm is rumoured to be of interest to both EA and Ubisoft.

More through there.

Edge’s reporting a rumour piece that appeared in The Daily Mail this morning, which reckons SCi’s being looked at by EA and Ubisoft.

Apparently discussions of are at an “early stage” and that SCi has been approached by two separate publishers in a matter of weeks.

More through there.

Warner boss Kevin Tsujihara has resigned as a non-executive director from the SCi board with immediate effect.

The move follows the resignation of fellow director Aaron Brown on October 9.

Both Brown and Tsujihara had been appointed at the same time in June as the publisher continued its attempts to revive its fortunes.

More on GI.

SCi’s confirmed plans today to ditch its brand and focus on the Eidos name.

“We are focusing our efforts on our cornerstone franchises, which are predominantly associated with the Eidos brand,” the firm said today as part of a financial statement.

“The Eidos name is widely recognized in the games marketplace and is our trading name. The board feels that it would be beneficial to align the name of the listed company to the strong product brand that Eidos represents in order to benefit from a single identity and clearer outward and internal communication.

“Therefore it is the board’s recommendation to change the name of the Company to Eidos plc.”

Makes sense. So long, SCi.

You couldn’t make this up. New Lara model Alison Carroll reckons Lara Croft has all the things a man wants in a woman.

“She’s got everything that a woman aspires to be like and everything that a man would like to meet,” she told the BBC.

Carroll’s comments came after her faff was smeared all over the internet this morning is some fairly astonishing bury-me-in-a-y-shaped-coffin promotional shots.

Despite the ignominy, though, Alison’s up-beat about the whole affair. And why not? Before landing the Lara job she was a receptionist gymnast in Croyden. As you do.

“It’s an amazing opportunity,” she said. “Lara is strong, athletic, confident and independent so it’s a huge responsibility to take on her role.”

More through the link.

According to this Edge report, SCi is poised to show a £100 million for fiscal 07.

“We have a clear strategy in place and have taken decisive steps to become a studio-led business with a focus on cornerstone franchises and a flexible approach to distribution,” said CEO Phil Rogers.

“There has been substantial change and the business is in good shape to take advantage of the strong overall market for video gaming worldwide.”

The company is currently working on its previously announced aim to reduce staffing levels by 25 percent.

The info comes from a trading update. More through the link.

Former SCi head Jane Cavanagh has handed 1.9 million shares in the firm to her family, GI reports.

Cavanagh left the firm when things got a little “sticky” earlier this year, but apparently still retains 7.7 million shares in the company, which represents a total of 2.99 per cent voting rights, according to a financial statement.

More through the link.

SCi’s announced that Robert Brent, current head of research for KBC Peel Hunt, is to join the firm as CFO.

“Robert brings extensive knowledge of SCi through his 5 years of researching and analysing our business and the videogaming sector as a whole,” commented SCi chairman, Tim Ryan.

“In addition, he has worked very closely with the new management team on the current re-structuring programme and communication of the new business strategy.”

Infogrames has just released a statement saying it made a bid for SCi which was rejected by the board.

“Infogrames’ proposal is financially disciplined and recognises the strengths of both companies,” said the company.

“Although the indicative offer is subject to standard conditions relating to due diligence, the receipt of irrevocable undertakings from certain SCi shareholders and the recommendation of the SCi Board, it is not subject to financing.

“Infogrames has sufficient resources to satisfy the cash element of its indicative offer and has secured commitments in relation to the potential working capital requirements of the enlarged group. Importantly, Infogrames is in a position to move expeditiously with its proposal.”

SCi confirmed a financing deal with Warner Bros. this week.

More on GI.

According to this story, “Inside 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.”

There’s been no confirmation of this as yet, and we’re assuming this relates to the US as opposed to the UK, so we’ll have to check on Monday.

A financing deal between SCi and Warner Bros was announced yesterday, and the layoffs are supposedly as a result of the move.

SCi’s stock dropped 17 percent this morning after the company announced that Warner Bros was to invest £15 million in its stock.

The announcement, which also included a significant SCi share purchase by Warner Bros, as well as a new share placement at 35 pence per share, failed to stimulate the company’s stock, which has fallen from 520 pence last July to 46.5 pence at the time of writing.

More on GI.

Warner Bros has confirmed a plan to buy £15 million in SCi stock, and to take control of the publisher’s distribution in the US, Canada and Mexico.

In addition, SCi said the move was just the part of a plan to raise £60 million through an issue of 171,605,424 new shares at 35 pence per share.

“Today we have significantly strengthened our relationship with Warner Bros. – one of the world’s largest media groups – to create an exciting strategic partnership, giving us increased scale in the North American market, to the benefit of all our major franchises,” said SCi CEO Phil Rogers.

Looks like the “sale” is off, then. More on GI.

According to GI, SCi rejected the latest offer for the company. From the site:

UK publisher SCi has confirmed that it has rejected the latest offer made for the company, saying the proposal failed to “represent sufficient value.”

The unnamed third party’s offer came with a “significant premium” on the publisher’s current share and offered mostly equity consideration. However, the third party would have assumed responsibility for the company’s future funding, a situation the SCi board refused to sign off on.

Behind the scenes talk is heavily suggesting the “unnamed third party” is/was Time Warner. Giant winks on this.

SCi has issued a statement confirming it is in talks to effectively sell the company, following weeks of speculation that Time Warner, NBC and various other companies are courting the Lara owner.

“The Board of SCi notes the recent speculation about an equity issue and confirms that it is considering a placing and open offer in the near future,” said the firm.

“This fund raising will be to raise the working capital the Company indicated it required at the time of its interim results on 29 February.”

New SCi CEO Phil Rogers reckons Eidos is on the look-out for new IP – despite having just binned 14 games.

“We have a full complement; we have fantastic franchises, next-gen titles, Wii and DS titles, casual and mobile games and we are developing some incredible game technology,” he said in an interview with MCV. “That said, we are always on the lookout for great property, from casual to next-gen titles and for distribution titles for our territory distribution offices. If the property is right, we are ready to talk.”

He added, talking of the recent project cancellations and lay-offs: “We want to be a leaner and fitter company in terms of what we do and what we release.

“In these situations you have to be honest, both internally and externally, and that is why we cancelled 14 titles. As a company we have been bringing out too many average games which are tying up resources. In today’s environment of lengthening development cycles and increasing costs, we need to be more ruthless and focus on our quality titles.”

Read the full thing through the link.

The Guardian’s speculating that a bid of 80p per share has been put in for SCi. The company’s shares rose 20.4 percent today on the news.

SCi’s stock’s trading at 60.5p following the increase.

The British paper’s named Time Warner, Infogrames and Ubisoft as potential suitors.

Eidos has just confirmed that the previously known Doctor Who game on its books will be revealed soon and is in development for PC, PS2 and DS. Firm details are under wraps at the moment, but it doesn’t sound as though you’re going to be waiting too long.

“That is correct,” a rep told videogaming247 when asked if promo work was starting on the title. “We haven’t announced a release date at the moment. It’s not too far away. We should be showing it to [press] quite soon.”

“It’s for PS2, PC and DS,” the spokesperson added.

Nothing else is known of the game thus far. All we can say is that we hope it’s all about Tom Baker and not that new one with the “trendy” haircut.

Oh dear. According to this, SCi has announced radical restructuring plans which are to include sizeable lay-offs and a move to Canada to take advantage of all those lovely tax breaks.

“The company plans to operate at a maximum head count of 800, a reduction of 25 percent, while the board has decided to cancel 14 projects currently under way as they will not generate an acceptable return on investment or are not of sufficient quality,” said that GI report.

The company plans to switch from a centrally controlled development and publishing model to a studio-led business focusing on its core products – Tomb Raider, Hitman, Championship Manager and Deus Ex.

“Our quality has slipped below acceptable standards and, through disappointing game development and working within an ineffective operating structure, we are failing to realise the commercial return our creative ability and our shareholders demand,” said the company. “Our infrastructure is too big and expensive for the scale of the business.”

Full thing through the link.