The Wait Elongates for Eido's Big Three
3/13/2005 at 2:09 PM
Tomb Raider VII, Hitman: Blood Money and 25 to Life have been delayed until at least July 2005.
The last six months have seen nothing but sorrow for long-standing publisher Eidos Interactive. Over the course of the last half-year, the UK-based studio posted a loss of $51 million, with its stock reaching an all-time low, momentarily seeing a meager 77 cents per share.
Even with these bottom-of-the-barrel numbers, it looked like Eidos was in limbo until the real bomb was dropped: the coming installments of their most successful franchises have hit a bit of a bump in the road and won't be boosting their lousy figures for quite a while. Hitman: Blood Money and the seventh Tomb Raider can't see shelves just yet because of the obvious financial troubles and development worries, but Eidos said this delay was primarily introduced due to the "desire to optimize the timing of release of certain key franchises."
Continuing their statement, Eidos explained that its "board has decided to move the scheduled next iteration release of Lara Croft Tomb Raider (name to be shortly announced) and Hitman: Blood Money, together with 25 to Life and Just Cause (both new IP), out of the last quarter of this financial year."
Since the publisher's financial year ends on June 30, each of the four games noted will not appear until July 2005 on the regular calendar; even so, some of them could easily be pushed back further at Eidos' discretion.
Prior to the announcement, spring 2005 was the scheduled date for Hitman: Blood Money, some retailers had 25 to Life listed with a tentative release of May, and Just Cause simply as 2005. While Eidos wanted to keep the new Tomb Raider's due date under wraps, the publisher of a comic book based on the game said the game will be shipped this summer.
Article by Cyrus Baetz, GamingWorld X
Source: Eidos Interactive
Our Comments
Cyrus Baetz: Eidos better time each release perfectly if they want to get back on their feet. Hitman: Blood Money is their best shot at redemption since Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness fell flat on its implants and its rep is a bit busted. 25 to Life shows potential, while Eidos has given little to go on for Just Cause. In the end, it will really all come to whether or not Eidos plays however few cards it has left well.
