Square Enix on the verge of buying Eidos

[Isildur´s Heir]

Where the hell is Warner Bros?
Where the hell is Microsoft?
Where the hell is....anyone but S-E?

Square Enix have just announced that an agreement has been reached with the board of Eidos, by which Square will purchase the creaky old British publisher for £84 million (USD$120 million).
That price represents, according to Square, a premium of 129% over Eidos' current market value. Meaning that, yes, in other words, they're paying more than what Eidos are worth.
For the deal to go through it has to be approved by 75% of Eidos' shareholders at the company's next meeting, which is due to take place early next month.

But, if no one steps up, it will happen, the next Lara Croft will be JRPG, Deus Ex 4 will feature androgynous characters, Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 will feature Bruce Wayne with spiked hair and a huge sword and the next Thief will have a 13 year old Garrett.

 

[Matt]

And the shocking twist of the next Tomb Raider?

Laura Croft will be revealed to be a really feminine man.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Outside of Deus Ex I can honestly say I don't give a ****. Tomb Raider is pretty much irrelevant and is crap at worst, ok at best.

I also doubt SE would actually take this franchises and develop them themselves. They will probably just let Eidos keep going and rake in the money from publishing their crap

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

I hope Square-Enix (if they end on buying Eidos) does a Sega, and not start to change the franchises to meet their "pedigree".
And i wouldn´t call it crap, sure, Eidos is going downhill for quite sometime now, that´s why they are being bought, but as Ips go, they have a bunch of great ones: Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Hitman, Commandos, Legacy of Kain, Thief and Fear Effect (which we have to give credit for that, not many developers make a game about two lesbian characters).
As for Tomb Raider, i totally agree that there isn´t a great game in many years (Legend was the best of the bunch), but it´s Lara Croft, and everyone loves Lara Croft.
I would love to see a proper restart of that.

 

[Brainiac 8]

Lara Croft in the next Final Fantasy confirmed!

 

[Tron Bonne]

I hope Square-Enix (if they end on buying Eidos) does a Sega, and not start to change the franchises to meet their "pedigree".
And i wouldn´t call it crap, sure, Eidos is going downhill for quite sometime now, that´s why they are being bought, but as Ips go, they have a bunch of great ones: Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Hitman, Commandos, Legacy of Kain, Thief and Fear Effect (which we have to give credit for that, not many developers make a game about two lesbian characters).
As for Tomb Raider, i totally agree that there isn´t a great game in many years (Legend was the best of the bunch), but it´s Lara Croft, and everyone loves Lara Croft.
I would love to see a proper restart of that.

They may have all of those IPs, but when was the last any of them outside of Tomb Raider have really been used? It'll be cool if SE makes use of those franchises, even if they do take them in a new direction or something at least their getting used.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

As long as nothing happens to the next Hitman game, im fine with this. If they f*** with that franchise i swear to god ill lose it.

 

[Raiden]

Tomb Raider will now consist of long cut-scenes and gender-ambiguous characters, and some cutey animals.

 

[hippie_hunter]

I'd bet that Warner Bros. will try to not let this happen. They've shown that they really want Eidos, but their strategy is to do it incrementally.

And when they own 20% of Eidos already, it wouldn't be that hard for them to buy more shares (they can buy up to 30%) or get some people on their side to account to the slightly more than 25% they need to reject the deal.

Oh well, this is what Warner Bros. gets for trying to buy Eidos in increments and not outright.

 

[Timstuff]

Given that Warner Bros. already owns a 20% stake in Eidos (which they'd recently increased) and is looking to make a bigger name for themselves in gaming, my guess is that they are going to try one-upping Square's bid.

I honestly don't think that purchasing Eidos would be particularly beneficial to either Square or Eidos at this point in time. If Square buys them, they're probably going to consolidate them into a smaller studio for Square's "western friendly" products. If WB buys them though, they're going to become a cornerstone to the future of Warner Brothers' games division. A Warner Bros. acquisition would make a lot more sense, so I'm hoping they make Eidos a better offer.

 

[Addendum]

WB was moving slow, and Square-Enix made a better offer. Business as usual. Crazy things can happen in a month.

And if SE wants to buy Eidos for more than it's worth, is WB willing to offer even more?

As long as either company doesn't affect Deus Ex 3 or the next Hitman game I don't care who owns Eidos.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

The problem here is, a couple of months ago, when was first announced the interest of Square-Enix for Eidos, i read that they went directly to Warner Bros and not to Eidos themselfs.
If that´s true, it must mean that they have reached an agreement with WB, and if that´s a fact....God help us all....

In other news, one also about companies, Midway just filed for bankruptcy under chapter 11, which means that they want to keep operating (chapter 7 would mean that they were liquidating).

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

As long as either company doesn't affect Deus Ex 3 or the next Hitman game I don't care who owns Eidos.

The problem with Square owning Eidos is that no one can imagine a SE game not being a JRPG with androgynous characters, and no one wants that in Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief or Hitman.

Now, if they do a Sega, i see no problem in them buying Eidos....

 

[Manic]

I smell new Kingdom Hearts cameos.

 

[Addendum]

The problem with Square owning Eidos is that no one can imagine a SE game not being a JRPG with androgynous characters, and no one wants that in Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief or Hitman.

Now, if they do a Sega, i see no problem in them buying Eidos....

I try to include a "wait and see" approach to level out my natural skepticism.

 

[hippie_hunter]

The problem with Square owning Eidos is that no one can imagine a SE game not being a JRPG with androgynous characters, and no one wants that in Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief or Hitman.

Now, if they do a Sega, i see no problem in them buying Eidos....

Square-Enix knows that only make JRPGs has bitten them in the ass so they want to expand outside of that genre. Hence why they bought Taito. And now they want to expand more into the Western market which has grown far more than the Japanese market, hence why their trying to buy Eidos.

However, this deal is really going to come down to Warner Bros. If Warner Bros. approves, then this is a done deal. If not, it'll be incrediby easy for them to kill this deal because only 25% of shareholders need to object. All they have to do is either buy 5% or more of the company or get some people on their side. Then the stock price will crash just like Take-Two's did when Electronic Arts gave up on their bid for, and then they can buy Eidos in increments like they've tried, but probably even cheaper.

 

[Nathan]

I smell new Kingdom Hearts cameos.

Hmm... A Sora and Agent 47 Team up.

 

[Mario_Galaxy]

Hmm... A Sora and Agent 47 Team up.

That would rock.

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

It´s 90% official, Square Enix just bought Eidos.
Why?
Because Time Warner is throwing its support behind the Japanese company's offer.

So, Warner Bros is out of the race, and, if no one appears of the blue (which will not happen), SE is the new owner of Eidos....and God have mercy of our souls.

By other words, Deus Ex 3 and Batman: Arkham Asylum will be 360 exclusives

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Nah....

I mean.....could it...really?

 

[Tron Bonne]

SE is slowly becoming multiplatformed company. Very doubtful they'll start going 360-only.

Especially with the concern of Arkham Asylum since it's co-published and owned by WB. They are going to get every dime out of that game

 

[Addendum]

Especially since Deus Ex began on the PC. It'd be like Valve or id dropping the PC for any future games

 

[Tron Bonne]

Well I'm pretty sure IH was referring to consoles when he said exclusive

 

[Addendum]

It's not really exclusive if you can play it on PC

 

[Isildur´s Heir]

I was kidding about the 360 exclusive thing, because of Star Ocean, Unfinite Undiscovery, The Last Remnant (timely), the multiplatform Final Fantasy XIII,....