British Game Publisher SCi has undoubtedly experienced trying times lately. Just last month, the company tried to shed weight to stay afloat by laying off employees en masse and canceling over a dozen proposed games. This reorganization was also coupled with the ongoing attempts at reviving a number of the beleaguered publisher’s most popular franchises, such as Deus Ex, Hitman and Tomb Raider. Many analysts assumed that these efforts were geared toward making SCi more appealing to potential investors who might ultimately rescue the company.

So when Warner Bros. Home Entertainment purchased $170 million worth of newly created SCi stock, few should have been surprised. Particularly considering the fact that Warner Bros. made a similar move back in December 2006, when it bought out a portion of the London-based publisher’s outstanding debt. In exchange for this most recent deal, Warner Bros. intends to gain access to much of SCi’s North American distribution, and this may even be part of a broader plan by Time Warner to secure a larger share of the game market. SCi, on the other hand, obviously benefits from the substantial infusion of cash, though it seems as though one of the immediate effects of the deal was that the entire PR, marketing and sales staff at Eidos, which is owned by SCi, has been laid off.