SCI delayed the next Tomb Raider game until December

Jane Cavanagh, who founded the UK based company in 1988, has resigned along with two other board members.

Poor results, failing to deliver new games on time, a profits warning, plus the collapse of takeover talks, have all put pressure on company management.

Finance director Phil Rogers has taken over as chief executive. In afternoon trade SCI shares were ahead by 23.75%.

Their credibility took a terminal knock... partly because of failure to deliver games on time Simon Davies ABN Amro analyst

SCI hit trouble last July when it warned that profits would not meet expectations.

The company started talks with potential buyers in September, but last week announced those talks had collapsed.

It also delayed the release of four new games until the final three months of 2008, including the postponement of the latest in the Tomb Raider series.

SCI's management has been criticised for those delays and for the way it accounts for the huge development costs of new games.

Analyst complained that provisions - or extra costs - were sprung on the market.

"Their credibility took a terminal knock, partly because of the expansive use of provisions, partly because of failure to deliver games on time and partly due to the failure to complete lengthy negotiations with potential buyers." said Simon Davies, an analyst at ABN Amro.