Square Enix buys Eidos for £84.3 million

Poor US sales prompt takeover

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12 February 2009 11:07 GMT / By Verity Burns

Japanese developer Square Enix has agreed to buy Eidos, the UK company behind famous game franchises like Tomb Raider and Championship Manager, for £84.3 million.

The sale has apparently been brought on following poor US sales of the recent Tomb Raider game, Underworld. Only yesterday the game received another knock-back after highly-anticipated downloadable content was delayed due to a "technical issue".

Square Enix is set to pay 32 pence per share in cash for the company.

Last month, Eidos had announced it had received an informal takeover bid, widely thought to be Time Warner which owns 20% of the publisher.

However it was Square Enix, the developer behind the popular Final Fantasy series, which has bought the company in an attempt to extend its offering in Europe.

"Eidos's products are highly complementary to our business and will accelerate our aggressive expansion into Western markets", said Square Enix president Yoichi Wada.