Eidos opens Shanghai base

SCi-owned Eidos is the latest to expand its operations into Asia with the opening a new office in Shanghai, China.

The firm responsible for the likes of Tomb Raider, Hitman and Championship Manager has established the new operation, wholly-owned by Eidos, to aid its studio’s outsourcing opportunities.

Eidos Shanghai has opened with a small team of experts in game design, production, art direction and programming headed by Christine Thaarup, worldwide studio outsourcing manager at the firm and former producer at its Denmark-based IO Interactive studio.

As general manager of Eidos Shanghai, she will be looking to work with "the very best partners" as the publisher/developer, fresh from its studio-focused restructuring, looks to keep costs down via outsourcing.

She added: "There is incredible talent here in China; we are lucky to already be working with some of them and are looking forward to growing these and new relationships.”

“We are looking to accelerate our outsourced development with an ‘organic-growth’ approach,” added Phil Rogers, Chief Executive Officer, Eidos.

“We already have years of experience in outsourcing of character and environment artwork and we are looking to build on this towards further outsourcing opportunities such as full level production, co-development and potentially full game production.”

Nine months ago, the firm told Develop that it would be sharing its internal technologies with partners in China to make sure the switch to outsourcing proved efficient.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for Eidos,” said Julien Merceron, chief technology officer at Eidos. “The opening event success is a way for the community here to let us know we are warmly welcomed and that they understand our presence will lead to more opportunities for many talented people."

Just two weeks ago, THQ opened a base in China.