14 DAY TRIAL // Soon after Eidos announced the pursuit of possible buyers, bids started flowing. The news that Bono, U2 vocal, is one of the six CEO-s in US company Elevation Partners made sensation, especially since the company bid $135 million in cash for buying Eidos.
Many rushed to announce that Lara Croft will surely become possession of world-famous Irish singer. Bono, associated in Elevation Partners with a former Electronic Arts CEO, sang in 2001 for the Tomb Raider soundtrack, his hit being named Elevation.
Some are still decided to prevent the Bono - Lara Croft "marriage". SCi Entertainment, a studio renowned for the controversial Carmaggedon series, initially denied the intent o interfering with the Eidos negotiations; later, after the news about the Bono offer spread around, SCi decided to bid a higher $144 million.
While Elevation Partners brings cash, SCi suggests a stock exchange, offering one SCi share for every six Eidos shares.
Just when the sale to Bono seemed one signature away, the fighting for Eidos starts resembling a tactical war, especially since SCi rushed to announce that they managed to convince about 15% of Eidos shareholders to accept the trade.
The sole benefit for Eidos in this controversy is that their shares boosted 27%, while the game developer community already speculates that new bids might also come from other players like Microsoft or Ubisoft, possibly interested in the bid-race.
Eidos made no official statements, while SCi kept on declaring that the investments in Eidos games will continue, and even attempted to suggest that there is more likely room for an association instead of a takeover.
The Eidos saga proves how much a game success accounts for when released by a certain studio. Despite of the success of franchises like Tomb Raider, Thief or Hitman, the release of six unsuccessful games during the past half-year was troublesome enough putting Eidos on sale.
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