Eidos An Introduction

Never has the name of an entity been more applicable to the sum of its parts Eidos is Greek for "vision" or "form". All parts of the Eidos Universe have a basis in the human senses.

As a diverse and well rounded Entertainment Group the Eidos Universe incorporates parts of all entertainment disciplines Eidos Interactive, Eidos Technologies, Glassworks and Naked Records complete our vision. This vision is a fluid one expanding rapidly both organically and through acquisition. Eidos will not sit back on its current level of success. Static is not a word used in the Eidos Universe-a dynamic approach will be taken to catapult the Eidos vision ever closer to the mainstream......

Eidos Plc

Eidos plc has undergone a dramatic  transformation process to arrive at its current status as a diverse entertainment group utilising nearly 500 staff. Its beginnings in the early 1990's were as a proprietary technology company employing a handful of individuals.

Eidos plc is the umbrella entity that sits above Eidos Interactive, Eidos Technologies, Glassworks and Naked Records, overseeing and directing the enviable pool of technology and intellectual property sitting beneath it and assuring that advantage taken from group synergy is maximised.

Most of this change has been effected in the past 12 months via acquisition, investment and technological advancement.

In October 1995 the first of what has become a series of acquisitions and investments was completed.

Companies acquired since that date include The Domark Group, Simis, Big Red Software and Centregold plc (comprising Core Design and US Gold). In addition Glassworks and Naked Records have been added to the fold alongside a programme of acquiring minority equity stakes in or signing exclusive output deals with a number of game development studios including ION Storm, Clockwork, Tigon, Pure Entertainment and Innerloop. This strategy allows a high quality release schedule to be maintained through both internal and external talent.

The synergy has been completed with the formation of an interactive marketing division, Eidoscope who will market the group through all forms of new media.

This process has precipitated one of the largest and most exciting vertically integrated entertainment software development and publishing groups in Europe, embodied under the Eidos Interactive brand name.

The Group's research and development activities are focused within Eidos Technologies, which continues to develop the Group's advanced video compression software; this arm comprises 24 technicians involved in the development of applications across video telephony, CD ROM video codecs and video editing systems.

Eidos Technologies licensing agreement with Oracle in March 1996 represents one of the single most significant events in the development of the Group's technology and it is anticipated that the strong technical endorsement this deal means will enable Eidos to exploit its video telephony technology across a broad range of other platforms and markets.

In London Eidos Technologies launched an advanced beta version of its CD ROM software developers kit at ECTS in September last year, which is not only being used internally but is also being actively marketed to third party developers.

Glassworks, the Company's digital animations and special effects facility, opened for business early in 1996.

Since its inception it has attracted a plethora of new business including animation and compositing work on advertisements the highlights have been campaigns for The National Lottery, Clorets, Gateway 2000, Nike and pop promos including the George Michael video of Fastlove and the latest Spice Girls video.

In addition to its ongoing external high end special effects business, Glassworks offers the group an experienced internal production environment for large rendering requirements, motion capture and high quality intro and outro sequences for group games titles.

The combination of the three main components of the new Group-Eidos Interactive, Eidos Technologies and Glassworks-provides the organisation with the ingredients necessary to develop highly differentiable entertainment software content and compelling video compression applications.

The cross fertilisation of the skills inherent in the Group and the synergy which binds them together, provides Eidos with the optimal platform to launch the company into a new era of growth towards the mainstream as well as in financial performance.