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Square Enix to publish Tomb Raider from now on?

Lara Croft is moving house

Square Enix to publish Tomb Raider from now on?

It was a shame to hear that Lara’s latest outing, Tomb Raider: Underworld performed badly enough to push Eidos to the edge of the industry precipice and to gaze into the abyss, though there was a glimmer of hope about a month ago when rumours of a buyout surfaced.

Well, it’s now been revealed that Square Enix was behind the offer, and a bid of £83.4 million has been recommended to shareholders by the Eidos board of directors. Share prices have apparently shot up in accordance - suggesting this to be a reasonable strategy for both game companies.

"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 videogame franchises of all time,” said Yoichi Wada, president of Square Enix.

"Eidos maintains a strong reputation for high quality development and proven expertise in creating characters and storylines that appeal to consumers. Eidos's products are highly complementary to our business and will accelerate our aggressive expansion into western markets.”

Although the deal has yet to be put to shareholders (which includes Warner Bros., holding 20 per cent of Eidos’s total stock) Wada’s statement does suggest that Square Enix probably isn’t just buying the Tomb Raider brand.

Hopefully we’ll simply see the UK-based Eidos development studio put up a few new signs, though as we mentioned earlier today, maintaining a software house in the UK is becoming increasingly difficult.

More details of the takeover bid will be revealed in March when stockholders will make their decision.

Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.