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Eidos has a rich history as one of the oldest established videogames companies and the largest in the UK. We are a combination of the two largest UK videogames publishers, SCi Entertainment and Eidos, who became one company in May 2005.
Now operating as a single company, Eidos plc, we date back to 1988 when SCi was originally founded. Eidos came into existence in 1990 as a video compression R&D company and in 1995 moved into the entertainment software market. In 1996 Eidos acquired CentreGold plc which included Core Design and later that year, Tomb Raider was first released on the Sega Saturn. Originally forecast to sell 100,000 units, the game went on to sell over 7 million copies with Lara Croft becoming a household name.
The following year, 1997, SCi Entertainment released the number one hit, Carmageddon, which went on to become a global phenomenon. SCi moved to the official list and embarked on a new strategy of investing in high quality licenses such as The Italian Job and Thunderbirds.
In 2000 Hollywood star Angelina Jolie starred as Lara Croft in the film of "Tomb Raider" confirming Lara's status as a major brand in the mainstream marketplace. Later that year Agent 47 was first introduced to the gaming world in the original Hitman videogame and Eidos' Who Wants To Be a Millionnaire? became the UK's Christmas No.1 and went on to become the fastest selling game to reach one million units sold in the UK. Subsequent releases of Championship Manager, Hitman, Commandos and Tomb Raider titles, confirmed Eidos' position as one of the world's largest publishers of entertainment software.
In May 2005 SCi Entertainment acquired Eidos, enabling the combined group to offer a valuable portfolio of intellectual property and a globally competitive stable of forthcoming products. The Eidos brand was adopted for all group publishing activities while the holding company continued to be known as SCi Entertainment Group plc.
In 2008 the name of the ultimate holding company was changed to Eidos plc providing a single identity for all group activities.
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