Eidos, the games company responsible for Lara Croft, has ended discussions on selling the company because it didn't think the offers represented "fair value for shareholders".

Shares fell 11.4 per cent to £2.61 on the news. Share prices rose as high as £5.50 on 20 June, the day after Eidos announced it was in talks with a potential buyer.

The buyer, or buyers, were never named but analysts and the press said Infogrames, Electronic Arts and Microsoft made offers.

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Gameplay.com has signed the rights to digitally distribute all SCi's future and back catalogue of PC CD-Rom games.

Customers will be able to get the games by paying to download them from the Gameplay site, or by streaming via subscription or rental deals from Gameplay's broadband services.

SCi's back catalogue includes the Carmageddon series. Future titles include Thunderbirds and The Italian Job. ®