MCV: Square Enix considering Eidos acquisition; Warner's still in it

A Dagger Through the Heart of St. Eidos, if you will.

It does appear to be more of a liability than an asset...

I don't know... Square-Enix has handled Taito pretty well, which is no mean feat given that they've been trading almost exclusively on Space Invaders for the past fifteen months (and Arkanoid... but milking SI far harder). The case could even be made that SE's intervention made stuff like Space Invaders Extreme possible.

On the other hand, Tomb Raider doesn't have quite the same reputation it once did, Hitman has also been somewhat spotty, and Deus Ex 3 must not be messed with in order to be successful. I honestly don't know if SE can turn TR/Hitman around, or conversely if they'll have the sense to keep their fingers away from DX3.

Of course, this is pretty much not going to happen anyway; I expect Warner Bros. will step up their efforts PDQ in an attempt to try to screw SE over (and will subsequently make all those mistakes up there).

They don't want the company in particular, they want it's IPs; Tomb Raider and Hitman are the obvious ones, but Thief, Carmageddon, Legacy of Kain and Just Cause have potential for exploitation too.

@ John

Very good point about Taito. But I think that is a little different. Taito is a Japanese company, so Square Enix at least has the familiarity of working with a company that has the same way of doing business. But Eidos is based in England and has a very western way of making games.

I could see why Square Enix would want it for that reason, as they've been trying (unsuccessfully) to make more games focused on western players (See Last Remnant). But there's a kind of barrier there that SE is trying to get through, but taking control of a sinking ship and trying to use it to drive right through an iceberg is not going to work.

@ Markus

If they just want the assests, why buy now? Wait until the whole thing collapse and then pick through the pieces. Remember Interplay? I'm sure lots of people wanted the Fallout license. But Bethseda managed to scoop it up once Interplay was shutdown.

I don't meant to sound heartless about the people working there and what not. But Eidos doesn't make good games. They don't. And all the bullshit they do with marketing does not help one bit.


@ Dark_inchworm

We have a winner.

You make a great point Sk8


Like the Hitman series, i played the 1rst one on PC. Buggy, new and interesting. Some time passes i try it out on Ps2/Xbox(?). Same stuff, buggy gameplay.

Heres my experience as a stealthy hit man: Kill, hide body, change clothes. At some point the enemy with a hunch recognizes me. Or half way through the level,the previous body is found (by who/what idk). End result, big shoot outs, rambo style until i stumble upon the "target." All that was missing through the bumbled up missions(not all) was HitMan saying Go go gadget Copter! Instead of the Copter', big red roller skates appear on my feet.