Eidos Interactive Limited (formerly known as Domark Limited) was a British company that published video games. It was based in Wimbledon, London. Some of its well-known game series included Championship Manager, Deus Ex, Hitman, Thief, Legacy of Kain, and Tomb Raider. Domark was started in 1984 by Mark Strachan and Dominic Wheatley. In 1995, the company was bought by a software firm called Eidos. Ian Livingstone, who owned a share of Domark, became the executive chairman of Eidos and held other roles, such as creative director. In 1996, Eidos acquired U.S. Gold, which included the game developer Core Design. Eidos combined its operations with Domark and created a publishing division called Eidos Interactive. In 1998, the company bought Crystal Dynamics and owned many other assets. In 2005, Eidos was acquired by a games publisher named SCi. The merged company, SCi Entertainment Group, was briefly renamed Eidos before being taken over by Square Enix in 2009.
In November 2009, Square Enix completed the merger with Eidos Interactive, integrating it mainly into Square Enix Limited (also called Square Enix Europe). Phil Rogers, an Eidos executive, remained with the company as CEO of Square Enix Europe and later became CEO of both the Americas and Europe in 2013. In August 2022, a games holding company called Embracer Group acquired several studios, including Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, and Square Enix Montréal, as well as intellectual properties such as Tomb Raider, Legacy of Kain, Deus Ex, and Thief. Rogers joined Embracer and helped create an operational group named CDE Entertainment.
History
Domark was founded in 1984 by Mark Strachan and Dominic Wheatley. In 1983, Wheatley visited his family and saw his brother playing The Heroes of Karn on a Commodore 64 computer. He believed that more people, not just computer professionals, would begin buying computers and games. After returning to his job in London, he shared the idea with his colleague, Strachan. At first, Strachan was not interested, but later noticed that many stores had sold out of ZX Spectrum computers, which he thought showed strong interest in video games. Strachan and Wheatley, both 24 years old, then left their jobs and started Domark, naming the company after their first names. To create the adventure game Eureka!, they hired Andromeda Software and Novotrade, a Hungarian developer, and brought in Ian Livingstone as the writer. They also organized a competition where the first person to call a phone number after finishing the game would win £25,000. Through help from friends and family, they raised £160,000 to fund the project. Domark released Eureka! in 1984, working with Concept Marketing, another company started by Strachan and Wheatley. Livingstone invested £10,000 in Domark after being impressed by their work. Eureka! sold 15,000 copies.
Domark next explored making computer versions of board games. When Trivial Pursuit became popular, Domark contacted Leisure Genius, a publisher that had successfully converted board games to computers. Leisure Genius was unsure about Trivial Pursuit, so Domark hired Oxford Digital Enterprises instead. The game was released in 1986 and sold about 2 million copies. This success allowed Domark to move to better offices and hire more employees. They later released more Trivial Pursuit and James Bond games. In 1987, Wheatley met Manlio Allegra at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Allegra wanted Domark to make computer versions of many games, but Wheatley said the company only had £25,000 to spend. They agreed on a deal for a few games, avoiding the Star Wars trilogy. A German programmer who had worked on Star Wars for Amiga was brought to England to develop the games. These versions were released in 1987 and became very successful, earning Domark £280,000 in royalties. Atari Games hired Domark as their exclusive partner for computer versions of arcade games. With enough money, Domark published games throughout the 1980s. In 1990, they created an internal development team called The Kremlin and grew to 20 employees by 1992. Livingstone joined Domark’s board as an investor, while Wheatley moved to the United States to manage the company’s American business. A U.S. branch of Domark was officially opened in Silicon Valley in 1993.
In 1994, Strachan and Wheatley met Charles Cornwall, chairman of Eidos, a company that made video compression software. At the time, Domark was struggling, and Eidos had no sales. The two companies agreed to merge in a special way, with Domark becoming a part of Eidos. The merger was announced in September 1995, with Eidos buying Domark, along with developers Simis and Big Red Software, for £12.9 million. The new company, Eidos, was listed on the London Stock Exchange that year. Livingstone became the executive chairman, and Strachan left Domark in 1995.
On May 31, 1996, Simis and Big Red Software were merged into Domark. In April 1996, Eidos bought CentreGold for £17.6 million. CentreGold included CentreSoft, a distributor, and U.S. Gold, a publisher with development teams Core Design and Silicon Dreams Studio. Eidos’ first major game was Tomb Raider, created by Core Design, which CentreGold had acquired earlier. Silicon Dreams Studio was later bought back by its founder, Geoff Brown, through a new company called Geoff Brown Holdings. In 1997, Wheatley left Eidos to return to Britain. That year, Eidos’ auditor, Coopers & Lybrand, resigned due to poor corporate governance, and KPMG took over. In January 1998, Opticom partnered with Eidos to develop storage devices. Eidos bought Crystal Dynamics in September 1998. In 1999, Eidos acquired 51% of Ion Storm and a 55% stake in Maximum Holdings. Eidos founder Stephen B. Streater left the company to start Forbidden Technologies. In 2000, Eidos’ CEO, Cornwall, left to focus on other interests, and Michael McGarvey became the new CEO. A takeover bid by Infogrames Entertainment failed in 2000. In 2002, Eidos created Fresh Games to localize Japanese titles like Mister Mosquito and Legaia 2: Duel Saga. Livingstone became a creative director in 2002. In 2003, Eidos started operations in Australia and founded Beautiful Game Studios to continue the Championship Manager series. In 2004, Eidos bought IO Interactive, which was developing Hitman: Contracts. Ion Storm was closed in 2005.
On March 21, 2005, Eidos received a takeover offer from Elevation Partners, a private equity firm, for £71 million. The offer included £23 million to help the company avoid bankruptcy. Elevation planned to take Eidos private temporarily to focus on game development. On March 22, 2005, Eidos received a second offer from SCi, a games publisher, for £74 million. SCi proposed cutting £14 million in annual costs and selling £60 million in stock to fund the takeover. Elevation withdrew its offer, allowing SCi to proceed. SCi’s takeover was completed on May 16, 2005, merging with Eidos Interactive’s parent company, SCi Entertainment Group.
Games published
Domark's well-known game series was Championship Manager, the first game in the series was created by Sports Interactive and released in September 1992. For Eidos Interactive, the notable game series was Tomb Raider, with the first game developed by Core Design and released in October 1996.
Legacy
Square Enix External Studios, originally called Square Enix London Studios and started by Eidos in 2008. This studio worked with other companies to create games such as Batman: Arkham Asylum, Just Cause, Sleeping Dogs, Life Is Strange, and Outriders.
Square Enix Collective, created in 2014. This group collaborates with independent developers and originally may have given Eidos game rights to other developers.
In May 2022, Square Enix announced it would sell several assets from Square Enix Limited to Embracer Group for $300 million. These assets included development studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, Square Enix Montréal, and intellectual properties like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, Legacy of Kain, and 50 older games. The deal was expected to finish in the second quarter of Embracer’s financial year. Embracer stated that these studios and game rights would become its 12th operational group, led by Phil Rogers, and later named CDE (Crystal Dynamics – Eidos) Entertainment. Square Enix will continue to publish games from other studios, including Outriders, Life Is Strange, and Just Cause. On May 20, 2022, Embracer said it sees potential for future games, including sequels, remakes, and remasters. The deal was completed on August 26, 2022. In November 2022, Embracer closed Square Enix Montréal and moved Eidos-Shanghai to Gearbox Entertainment, renaming it Gearbox Studio Shanghai.