The video-game heroine Lara Croft of Tomb Raider fame may not seem like an obvious British export, but she is. That's one reason those concerned about the British video-game industry's future are closely watching the bidding war for Eidos PLC (EIDSY ), the publisher behind her creation.

　　On Monday, Mar. 21, Elevation Partners, a new California-based private-equity firm whose directors include U2's Bono, offered $135.1 million in cash for the struggling British gamemaker. The next day, a British game publisher, SCi Entertainment Group, countered with a $144 million stock offer. To those worried about the erosion of a game-development industry, in which homegrown British outfits traditionally have excelled, the second bid marked an improvement -- and not just in terms of price.

　　"It would be very nice to have one big publisher in the U.K.," says Fred Hasson, chief executive of the Independent Game Developers Assn., a trade group in based in Brighton.

　　The bids for Eidos came as the company felt increasing financial pressure. Earlier in March, Eidos' shares dropped to their lowest point in 10 years after word that, if a takeover deal was not announced by Mar. 25, its creditor, the Royal Bank of Scotland, had the right to force it to sell some of its assets to pay back a $43.6 million loan.

　　On Mar. 21, the Eidos board announced that it had accepted the bid from Elevation Partners, founded by tech investor Roger McNamee and John Riccitiello, the former president and chief operating officer of Electronic Arts. Tuesday, however, Eidos said it would consider the competing offer. The news pushed the shares up 28%, to the equivalent of $1.09, on the day the rival bid was revealed.

　　For the broader British industry, the worst-case scenario would have involved Eidos' being simply split up and sold to foreign companies, says Hasson. Still, he favors a SCi Entertainment takeover because it could create a British publisher of a scale that might compete on an international level. "Now we just make [the games], and somebody else makes a profit," he says. And, if the deal goes through, Lara Croft will remain a British subject.