SCI, Eidos Spin Losses and Point Fingers at the PS3

By Joe Haygood | September 27, 2007

Eidos parent company, SCi, lost $60 million for the fiscal year ending June 30th 2007. This compares to an $8 million profit at the end of the fiscal year in 2006. SCi explained that the losses were being incured in a transition year as the new consoles continue to gain steam over their previous generation models. But it was their singling out the PS3 slow sales that caught my eye.

The board of SCi feels that further price cuts are warranted to help stimulate demand for the console and to help sales of third party game titles. While not a new statement, it is interesting to see it made in a company financial statement. It is also just another way to deflect the real reason that this happened and that is poor game quality. Beyond a few hits, Eidos and its parent are not the company they use to be when they had a virtual non-stop stream of hits.

And while the slow sales of the PS3 may have hurt them, there are still five other platforms to develop for, six if you include the still selling like mad PS2. Why didn’t these platforms help you make money? Good games will almost always make you good money, and right now, Eidos really needs to put the focus back on creating good quality games. The Tomb Raider franchise revival was a great start, but it needs more. If you don’t have enough IPs to go around, look at your back catalog. Deus Ex is crying for a better sequel than DX2: Invisible War, and Beyond Good and Evil has had a lot more exposure on GameTap allowing for the sequels to make better money. A new Prince of Persia game wouldn’t hurt at this point either.

So look to the development companies within, and pay less attention to how many PS3 consoles sell. All of us gamers would be better off.