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Square Enix retires Eidos publishing label

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted Jul 7, 2009 11:15 am PT

Japanese pub consolidates operations in Europe and NA, confirming some headcount reduction; British company's name will live on through dev studios.

At the end of April, Square Enix concluded its acquisition of Eidos Interactive, a British publishing house that had fallen on hard economic times despite owning a number of top gaming properties. As part of the £84.3 million ($136 million) deal, Eidos was folded into the Square Enix Group, which also includes Square Enix's global game development-publishing arm, as well as 2005 acquisition Taito.

Lara Croft takes one more step toward a Kingdom Hearts cameo.

Today, Square Enix revealed one more step in integrating Eidos into its global organization with the formation of Square Enix Europe (a moniker still to be finalized). Current Eidos CEO Phil Rogers will head up Square Enix Europe, and John Yamamoto will continue to lead Square Enix's North American arm.

As detailed in a statement provided to UK-based gaming site CVG, the new publishing label will combine Square Enix and Eidos' European publishing labels. Eidos' North American operations have also been impacted by this move, with the publisher saying that all publishing duties have been transferred to Square Enix in the region.

As a result of the move, Square Enix will be retiring the Eidos publishing label, though the venerable name will live on through the company's various development outfits. Square Enix also confirmed that the restructuring will result in an unspecified number of layoffs as redundant positions are consolidated in both Europe and North America.

172 Comments

  • dharmang1910

    Posted Jul 30, 2010 11:57 am PT

    I would very happy if eidos take over square enix instead of this!!!!!

  • jibaro_geo

    Posted Apr 8, 2010 2:12 pm PT

    Square dominated with their own franchise realm, mostly RPG. Owning now the EIDOS action IP's is as an expansion to their realm. But the question to ask is... would the future EIDOS games will retain the same grade of excitement & uniqueness.. Or we would be looking to new "good & nicer" teen de-graded Hitman & T.R. versions?

  • account_007

    Posted Feb 18, 2010 5:18 pm PT

    I know what you mean, it seems like all the fields of entertainment are being effected in this way. (Disney buying out Marvel) It is saddening to see these things happen because it takes away from something unique.

  • neuroboy

    Posted Nov 17, 2009 4:09 pm PT

    Are there any 'independent' developers or publishers left in the UK that haven't been swallowed up by the US/European/Japanese MDCs? Seems like everything is owned by about 3 corporations these days.

  • S3P4eeever

    Posted Nov 16, 2009 10:02 pm PT

    bad for eidos good for games

  • ceremiev

    Posted Nov 16, 2009 3:52 pm PT

    Tombraider RPG? Huaaaaagggggggggg

  • JOKER677

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 2:47 pm PT

    time splitters

  • lecter38

    Posted Sep 21, 2009 6:25 am PT

    Thats realy sad, the eidos label was behind such great games; thief. soul reaver. hitman, and tomb raider.

  • Cygnus421

    Posted Sep 8, 2009 11:20 pm PT

    Hitman: Midgar. I'm pretty sure thats why they merged.

  • FF_fan2004

    Posted Aug 17, 2009 3:54 pm PT

    Sounds to me that Square Enix is turning into a "dying hippo" in a sort of business term. Much like Disney and they bought in Pixar to sustain itself. Now a merged company as big as Square Enix needs Eidos to sustain itself. I definitely resent them dropping the Eidos label, a lot of really good games have been out over the years under that name.

  • MERGATROYDER

    Posted Aug 12, 2009 4:21 am PT

    Bring on Thief 4 betchis!

  • bluenosepunk

    Posted Aug 7, 2009 10:46 pm PT

    I personally don't think that there's anything to worry about,though I've always loved the hitman games and don't want anything bad to happen to them.What we have to remember here is that they bought them for a reason,they have talented developers who make good games.Why would they want to disrupt that?

  • MQ7

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 3:42 am PT

    i really want a hitman game on the ps3?
    does anyone know when the new hitman is coming out?

  • MQ7

    Posted Aug 4, 2009 3:41 am PT

    i really liked bloodmoney on the ps2

  • starduke

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 12:56 pm PT

    I know, they could make a Hitman game where 47 goes after all of the bosses from Final Fantasy. "47, our client wants you to take out a man called Kefka. According to our client he's totally insane and wants to destroy the world."

  • starduke

    Posted Jul 30, 2009 12:35 pm PT

    So, Square took over Edios and is now getting rid of the name. That's stupid, Edios is a name associated with a lot of great games, so that name has street cred. All Square is know for is Final Fantasy and Kindom Hearts.
    Well, maybe somthing good could come of this...I hope.

  • green_dominator

    Posted Jul 27, 2009 8:30 am PT

    It seemed that all Eidos was doing is planting their name everywhere......that said, I'm not a fan at all of Square/Enix.....
    I'm not a big fan of Japanese Rpg's, Bioware does it better lol
    all I can say is I hope Hitman isn't affected by this merger......

  • revway

    Posted Jul 23, 2009 11:35 am PT

    Square Enix means nothing to me, Eidos, however, does.

  • Detrun

    Posted Jul 14, 2009 6:11 am PT

    I know it's already been said but I would love to see a new Legacy of Kain game or a more RPG type version of the franchise!

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