Bidders named as 3DO carve-up continues

The list of qualified bidders for the assets of defunct publisher 3DO has been released, revealing that parties including Microsoft, Eidos, Namco, Ubi Soft and JoWooD are all interested in picking up certain franchises.

3DO's assets have been divided up into lots based on game franchises, with separate auctions for SRS Street Racing, Heroes of Might & Magic, High Heat Baseball, Army Men, Jacked and Cubix. Two other lots are also on the auction block - namely the "Internet Patent Asset Group", and the "Other Patents Asset Group".

Only one of the lots has yet been assigned a lead bidder, with Ubi Soft being named lead bidder on the Heroes of Might & Magic assets. The other qualified bidders on this lot are Eidos and Turbine Entertainment.

Eidos is also bidding on a number of other assets - including SRS Street Racing, where it will be bidding against Namco Hometek and JoWooD. The result of the SRS bid has particular relevance to UK development, as this asset package includes the development deal for the title with UK studio Eutechnyx.

The other two franchises Eidos is bidding on are High Heat Baseball, where it will be bidding against Microsoft and SVG/Crave, and the much-maligned Army Men franchise, where the sole other bidder is Turbine.

Both Jacked and Cubix have only one qualified bidder each, with JoWooD and 4kids Entertainment respectively being the interested parties in question.

As for the other asset groups on offer⦠There's a familiar name in the bidding for the Internet Patent group, with William T Hawkins down as a qualified bidder. However, there is a committee objection pending to this status, so it remains to be seen whether Trip will be allowed to bid for his old company's assets after all. The other bidders in this area are Turbine Entertainment and Patent Purchase manager, both of whom are also bidding on the Other Patents group.