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Midway/EA target SCi (who recently bought Eidos)

G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
And so the march of consolidation continues..

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=119092575&p=yy9x93yxx&n=119093177

A takeover battle for Sci Entertainment was looming today after the computer games publisher found itself in the sights of a string of suitors.

London-based Sci confirmed “approaches from various parties” over a takeover - just five months after it won the battle for Lara Croft creator Eidos.

A report in the Daily Mail said it was a three-way race for Sci with US computer games firms Midway and Electronic Arts (EA) making separate approaches.

It is thought that private equity firm Apax Partners has also expressed an interest in Sci, which was worth £345.2m (€511m) before its statement this morning.

Sci said: “The board notes today’s press comment and confirms that it has received approaches from various parties which may or may not lead to an offer for the company.”

According to the newspaper report, Midway is the front-runner in the takeover race.
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Kangu said:
What properties do these guys have aside from Tomb Radier/Eidos.
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Hitman, Championship Manager, the Conflict Series, Richard Burns Rally, Carmageddon etc.

(hehe, I know some of these are eidos properties..)
 
What the heck?

Midway struggles to turn in a profit as is, how the heck can they afford to take on an outfit that is probably bigger then they are? Were it not for a particularily generous investor, Midway could have been bought out or be trudging off towards bankrupcy already.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the obligitory EA sucks venting that every thread they headline has.

EA sucks.
 
wtf? sci is doing fine, even with this second rate games (richatrd burns rally, conflict series...) now, that they have eidos with upcoming games like the new tomb raider and hitman, there should no worries about sci´s health.

and please, midway: your games mostly suck. stay away from sci.
 
I really dont get why either Midway or EA would want any of Sci's properties or employees.


Kinda sad if they are just doing it to wipe out the (minimal) competition.
 
SCi is in good financial shape, this is very odd.

I pray to God this is false, EA would destroy the Carmageddon/Hitman franchises. Heck, they may even want to remove Lara's boobs =P
 
HyperZoneWasAwesome said:
Midway struggles to turn in a profit as is, how the heck can they afford to take on an outfit that is probably bigger then they are? Were it not for a particularily generous investor, Midway could have been bought out or be trudging off towards bankrupcy already.
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I imagine they could buy Sci based on extended credit or some other businessy loan method thing. There are ways to do it.

Unfortunately for Midway, I don't think they should. They've not been in a position to to something like this for quite a while. Buying another company at this point would end up dragging both companies down into bankruptcy/buyouts. Look at their releases - the only thing keeping them afloat is Mortal Kombat and its spinoffs. Yeah, great release strategy.

Sure, there's Unreal, the classics discs, and the unproven, no-NFL-license Blitz - big deal. There's no Gauntlet game on the hype horizon, and no other original franchise being pimped. OK, so where are the money-makers?

Midway, don't do it. You don't have the resources.
 
Midway, EA, and Apax Partners (private equity group) are the only three out of five bidding parties. Apparently there are two more unnamed parties. I'm guessing UbiSoft is one of them since both they and EA tried to buy Eidos before SCi succeeded.
 
jipe said:
Around £400 million at the current stock price.
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That's around $700 million. I don't think Midway can afford them and SCi would be foolish to accept Midway stock. Didn't SCi buy Eidos for around $100 mil just few months ago, what a great return on investment?
 
Lhadatt said:
They've not been in a position to to something like this for quite a while. Buying another company at this point would end up dragging both companies down into bankruptcy/buyouts.
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Midway has more than doubled in size in the last 12 months. They have purchased 3 .. 4 companies with in that time frame? Hired more than 100 new employees? That doesn't sound like a company that is failing horribly.
 
Lhadatt said:
Sure, there's Unreal, the classics discs, and the unproven, no-NFL-license Blitz - big deal. There's no Gauntlet game on the hype horizon, and no other original franchise being pimped. OK, so where are the money-makers?
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The Unreal franchise is a big deal. :)

As for Gauntlet, was Seven Sorrows cancelled when I wasn't looking or something? I certainly seem to keep seeing print ads for it...
 
The only reason Midway has "grown" so much recently is because the same dude has been consistantly pumping money into the company.

Sumner Redstone, Viacom CEO (MTV, Paramount, Showtime, Nickelodeon, etc.) owns 85% of the stock and has been buying portions of Midway he doesn't own like mad within the last year. They have aquired a few developers within the last year, so the money is coming from some where, and it sure isn't from their game sales.

Midway sure hasn't had any big hits on the software side lately. Heck, not since the last Mortal Kombat have they had any major sucesses. Area 51 was not the smash hit they were hoping for, Narc hit the bargin barrel, and I don't recall Unreal Championship 2 setting the world on fire.

Midway has several titles contributing to their earnings for the remainder of 2005, but I can't imagine them having enough scratch to put together to take in SCI/Eidos as of right now.

p.s. Oh yeah, and EA still sucks.

p.p.s. Get cracking on Psi-Ops 2 for crying out loud, Midway.
 
Its kinda weird. Wouldnt the console Makers (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo) be scared of EA buying up all the competition. Soon enough EA is going to have enough clout to decide which consoles succeed(*oops sorry dreamcast). But I do hope EA buys out more developers. I'm hoping for a one console future.
 
Why not? Just imagine not having to buy 3 diffrent consoles. You would just have to buy one and all the games would work on it. I hope Sony can guide us into a true one console future. I seriously think that this event will happen by the gen after the 360, Ps3,rev one. One Console to rule them all, One Publisher to rule them all.
 
HyperZoneWasAwesome said:
Midway sure hasn't had any big hits on the software side lately. Heck, not since the last Mortal Kombat have they had any major sucesses. Area 51 was not the smash hit they were hoping for, Narc hit the bargin barrel, and I don't recall Unreal Championship 2 setting the world on fire.
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Just to be fair, their NBA Ballers game sold over 1 million copies. In the end, I don't care what happens in this deal, as long as EA doesn't get it.
 
HyperZone<3 said:
The only reason Midway has "grown" so much recently is because the same dude has been consistantly pumping money into the company.

Sumner Redstone, Viacom CEO (MTV, Paramount, Showtime, Nickelodeon, etc.) owns 85% of the stock and has been buying portions of Midway he doesn't own like mad within the last year. They have aquired a few developers within the last year, so the money is coming from some where, and it sure isn't from their game sales.

Midway sure hasn't had any big hits on the software side lately. Heck, not since the last Mortal Kombat have they had any major sucesses. Area 51 was not the smash hit they were hoping for, Narc hit the bargin barrel, and I don't recall Unreal Championship 2 setting the world on fire.

Midway has several titles contributing to their earnings for the remainder of 2005, but I can't imagine them having enough scratch to put together to take in SCI/Eidos as of right now.
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My point exactly. They have the capital to expand via aquiring developers, but I don't think they want to put in enough money to buy out a complete publisher.

Tellaerin: Unreal hasn't been a big deal success-wise for a little while now. Championship keeps flopping, UT2004 made good numbers on PC but there's no console version. Unreal just hasn't lit up the consoles yet - Epic keeps trying to adapt it, but for some reason they're not all that successful.

As for Gauntlet, I maintain that the hype isn't good enough on this one yet. They need more exposure for it if it's a sellable title.
 
Oh screw that.

I seriously hope EA does not get its hands on Eidos. I've been looking forward to the next Tomb Raider game. Call me close minded but if EA owned that franchise I would completely ignore it after that. Eidos istrying to get it on the right track and now EA comes sniffing around,looking to squeeze water from a rock-oh lordy.

EA would more than likely take any good from the next game-then pump out so many TR updates it'd make our heads spin. No...hell no...keep EA the hell away.:(
 
Foil said:
Whatever happens they better not screw with the Legacy of Kain series.
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Oh shit-I totally forgot Eidos owned the series. Please god,no.
I can ignore EA to a point. But if they start buying up franchises I hold close then this is beyond pathetic.
 
How can Midway afford to buy SCi Eidos you ask? Two words, Sumner Redstone. Current CEO of Viacom and the majority shareholder of Midway.
 
Best Carma game ever.

Carmageddon_2-front.jpg


TDR2000 never existed.
 
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