Eidos Interactive is an English company which makes video games. It is one of the best makers and developers and provides leisure and entertainment especially for young people. We know that nowadays the video games market is growing. "The industry has grown to rival every other entertainment manufacturer grossing more than 100 billion dollars annually worldwide" (Sam Hart, A call for quality, http://www.geekcomix.com/vgh/calqual.shtml, 05/12/02). This market now is more profitable than movie market.Eidos Interactive was born in 1990 but moved into the video games market in 1995 with the acquisition of Domark. Eidos is a public limited company registered in England. It has a quotation ...view middle of the document...
3% and there were further reductions in the Group's fixed cost base. Overall losses were reduced to £30.7 million for the fifteen months to 30 June 2002 from £97.3 million for the twelve months to 31 March 2001 (Source: Eidos annual report and accounts 2002). The company made big profits with the launch of the game Tomb Rider which was a famous game. Five games and a movie about the stories of Lara Croft have permitted to keep big profits during several years. Now, the success of Tomb Raider is less important and Eidos makes less profit than before. The life cycle is over and it will be hard for the company to keep the same range of profits. They have to create new good products if they want to stay alive because a takeover is forecasted by Infogrames or Electronic Arts (source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/903608.stm , 06/12/02).Even if there are more consumers and the consumers' budget is growing for video games, we can also add that competition is getting harder because more games are launched at the same time by different companies so the consumer has a better choice. The main competitors of Eidos Interactive are (source: http://www.buscom.com/commu/G260.html):* Capcom Co, Ltd (www.capcom.com)* Codemasters Group, Ltd (www.codemasters.com)* Enix Corp. (www.enix.com)* Infogrames Entertainment, SA (www.infogrames.com)* Konami Co, Ltd (www.konami.com)* Namco, Ltd (www.namco.com)* Sega Corp. (www.sega.com)* Squaresoft Co, Ltd (www.squaresoft.com)* Ubi Soft Entertainment, SA (www.ubi.com)* Electronic Arts (www.ea.com)To launch a new product, you have to do some steps:* First, they have to choose in which genre they want to make the product: It can be an action game, an arcade/platform game, a fighting game, a racing game, a first person shooters game, an adventure/role playing game, a simulation game, a sport game, or a strategy/war game. Then they have to think about the game and its market. The aim is to make profits so they have to create a game which makes good sales. For example, the creative assembly company made a wargame called "Shogun Total War". The action takes place during the Middle age in Japan. So this game was not interesting for European and American people because it is not their history. The European market is one of the best market for video games and will probably be the best one within 2 years (Source: John Blau, Europe plans voluntary age rating for PC games, http://www.pcworldmalta.com/news/2002/Oct/291.htm, 06/12/02 and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/entertainment/new_media/1871571.stm ,06/12/02). The same company launched this year: "Medieval Total War". It is the same game but in takes place in Europe this time. It will be one of the best games of the year. This game will be more profitable the other one because there are more consumers. So before launching a product, makers have to take care of the idea and be sure that it...
