SCi Spurns Infogrames Buyout Bid

French Atari parent Infogrames wants to purchase Eidos parent SCi, and has already extended it a "financially disciplined" offer, Infogrames revealed today via a regulatory announcement.

However, says Infogrames: "The SCi Board has declined, at this stage, to entertain Infogrames' offer."

Infogrames is still raring to go on the bid, though, saying that it has "sufficient resources" to satisfy the offer, and adding it has also "secured commitments" that will help fund SCi's potential working capital requirements. "Importantly," the statement adds, "Infogrames is in a position to move expeditiously with its proposal."

Report: Mass Layoffs Hit Eidos

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 $120 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]

Eidos Cancels New Carmageddon Game

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

Mass Effect Special Coming to SCI FI One Day Late

Until Mass Effect is released on Nov. 20th and faces our impossibly high geek expectations, we can only comb over press releases for nuggets of missed goodness. That's how we realized that we'd completely missed the announcement that SCI FI, who has partnered like crazy with the game already, will be airing the 30-minute special Sci vs. Fi: Mass Effect on launch day. As we willingly inject ourselves with advertisement for a game we could otherwise be playing, we'll see:

...more in-depth information about the game, exclusive interviews and exciting behind-the scenes footage.

Mass Effect on SCI FI [scifi]

Ubisoft confirmed today that they were at one time interesting in picking up Lara Croft publisher SCi, but are now totally over her the company and want nothing to do with purchasing it.

"Ubisoft has no intention to make an offer and will not make an offer on SCi." Ubisoft reps told Thompson Financial News. Ouch, sounds like someone got hurt.

Ubisoft Ends Interest in Acquiring SCi [Gamasutra]

SCi Entertainment, now officially going down in flames as they confirm a net loss of GBP 29.1 million in the past fiscal year, say that Ubisoft isn't the only company interesting in snatching up the company and their rights to the Tomb Raider series.

Electronic Arts, an unnamed Chinese company and Time Warner are all rumored to also be preparing bids for the company.

Analysts blame, in part, the slow build up for the PS3 install base as part of the reason SCi is hemorrhaging so much cash.

"The larger-than-expected provision against capitalised development costs reflects the fact that the installed base for Sony's PS3 has taken longer to build than expected," said Panmure Gordon analyst Richard Newboult, maintaining a buy rating. "If a significant price reduction for the console boosts sales, then there is a good chance that at least some of this provision will prove to be unnecessary."

Yes, thats entirely why SCi is going down in flames... the PS3.

3rd UPDATE: SCi Receives More Bid Attention, Reports Fiscal Year Loss [CNN Money]

More Just Cause, Tomb Raider, Hitman Coming

Warner Bros. Invests in SCi Entertainment

"Investing in SCi further solidifies our commitment to the rapidly growing interactive and gaming space," said Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. "This deal is consistent with our core strategy of delivering high quality entertainment based on some of the world's best-loved brands for all formats and channels. We look forward to working with SCi to build games the fans of these brands will truly enjoy."

SCi Accused of Theft and Sabotage

Tomb Raider and Hitman Branding Coming to Casinos