Rumours have been flying around the last few days about a possible buyout of SCi/Eidos. The publisher has been struggling lately and Lara Croft and company is once again looking for a new owner. The last time when Eidos was in trouble they were purchased by British publisher SCi, but things haven't been working out the way they wanted and now SCi is on the block.
The most likely candidate is Warner Bros who already hold almost 20 % of the shares in SCi and who are co-operating with them on distribution. But a surprising suitor is Japanese Square Enix who are looking to aggressively expand there presence in the Western markets. EA and Ubisoft have also been mentioned as potential buyers.
The last two companies would probably be more interested in the IP's that Eidos/SCi hold and possibly hanging on to a few of the more prestigious studios, such as IO Interactive and Crystal Dynamics, while Warner Bros who are looking to expand their gaming business might want to hold on to more of the organisation. What Square Enix have in mind is hard to predict, but with a publishing agreement with Gas Powered Games on Supreme Commander 2 and a start up studio in Los Angeles the Japanese giant obviously have their eyes set on new markets.
The reasons for Eidos/SCi's problems are easy to spot. In a bid to impress investors they have expanded and try to copy the success formula of Ubisoft opening studios in all corners of the world. Meanwhile a number of key games have been pushed out (Atari style) in unfinished condition. The most obvious example is Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, a brilliant concept ruined by a game that did not live up to expectations. But Eidos still hold a number of big franchises such as Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex and Soul Reaver.
Regardless of who ends up buying Eidos/SCi they have a bit of a mess to clean up. That work already started last year when Eidos cancelled a bunch of unannounced projects, but there is more work that has to go into the organisation and their franchises. All the main franchises that Eidos/SCi are old and (arguably) in decline with their latest iterations selling worse than previous titles.