Time Warner, Others Courting Eidos-Parent SCi

Eidos-parent company SCi confirmed rumors of buyout discussions earlier this month, though no specific parties were cited as possible suitors. It came out that Ubisoft was the company in question, but The Times now reports that Time Warner and an unnamed Chinese company have approached London-based SCi with acquisition interest as well. Time Warner owns 10 percent of SCi's shares already and has an agreement with the company to develop games based on Time Warner properties. The Times goes on to suggest that mega-publisher EA may be interested in SCi, though EA already owns the largest stake in the UK publisher, with nearly a quarter of the voting interest. SCi became an acquisition target this summer after company executives said they misjudged the lowered popularity of PlayStation 2 and the success of Nintendo's Wii console. Titles from from SCi and its subsidiary Eidos include the Tomb Raider franchise, the Conflict series of war games, and the upcoming Io Interactive title Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (PS3, X360).