Square Enix Looks to Purchase Eidos
Last week, Gamedaily reported that Square Enix had submitted a $119 million bid to acquire Eidos. Eidos’ Board of Directors has advised company stockholders to take the deal, with Eidos chairman Tim Ryan admitting that Square Enix had put together a strong offer. A formal decision won’t be made until March 2009, but early indications are positive for Square Enix, with MCV reporting that more of Eidos’ stockholders endorse the deal.
Could this be the face of things to come?
The latest stockholder to agree is Pioneer Investment Management, a company that owns 10 percent of Eidos’ stock. Previously Time Warner indicated they would support the proposal. Time Warner owns 20 percent of Eidos’ stock and Eidos’ management owns 15 percent of the stock which means that 45 percent of Eidos’ current stockholders have indicated they approve of the Square Enix bid.
“Eidos is a talented developer and publisher of interactive entertainment products with a broad portfolio of highly successful mass-market franchises, led by Tomb Raider, one of the most successful video game franchises of all time,” said Square President Yoichi Wada. Wada also cited Eidos’ reputation for creating appealing characters and storylines.
The bid comes in spite of Square Enix slashing its revenue forecast for the fiscal year that ends March 31, 2009. This was due in part to Dragon Quest IX’s delay into the next fiscal year.
With Square Enix’s purchase of Eidos coming closer to reality, one can only wonder exactly what the company will call itself this time.
Tags: Eidos, Square Enix
Squenix –> Squeidox?
I like it, although in light of the Taito revelation that I missed, I’m warming to the idea of Squeetados.
Ooh, nice. I love a nickname you can dip in guacamole.
Uh, when Square Enix purchased Taito, the company name didn’t change…Square Enix was formed out of a merger between Square and Enix, even though Enix technically absorbed Square, it was still a merger in the broadest senses, instead of an acquisition as how SE has done with Taito, attempted to do with Koei, or doing now with Eidos.
Anyway, why does people always assume that the game series of the different companies would fuse together after a merger? I mean, sure Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy made cross-overs in board games, but their respective game series have not changed. Their styles were still essentially Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Look at Taito, have super effeminate guys appeared in any of their games?
Sure, maybe after SE acquires Eidos, we can see some interesting cross-over games with their characters, but there won’t be “Tomb Fantasy”.
Kudos on the excellent points, Mo! To be perfectly honest I’d forgotten about SE’s acquisition of Taito. (Though Bub and Bob would make for an interesting summon.)
I agree a name change may be unlikely, but I’d argue Eidos is higher profile than Taito was, so if SE’s plan is to use Eidos to better crack open the Western market they might seek to empathize that fact.
To be perfectly honest, I doubt many really suspect game companies will combine their properties when they merge, but silly, over-caffeinated writers may send the wrong message with their images.