EIDOS OFF ON PROFIT WARNINGS
Copyright 2001 www.tombraiderchronicles.com Source: Bloomberg

[ January 25th 2001 ]

Eidos interactive, the power behind Lara Croft's Tomb Raider, lost 18 per cent off it's share price today following a revision warning of downwards expectations resulting in the delay of many titles, Bloomberg reports today.

Eidos Plc, maker of the "Tomb Raider'' video game starring Lara Croft, said sales in the U.S. were "well below expectations'' at the end of 2000 and that some new games planned for the end of the year were delayed. As a result of the delays of titles such as "Commandos 2", "Startopia'' and "Gangsters 2'', the company "has significantly revised downwards its expectations for the full year'' that ends in March, according to a statement released on the U.K.'s Regulatory News Service.

Sales of games from Eidos and rivals such as Electronic Arts Inc. fell last year as customers waited for the new PlayStation 2 console from Sony Corp. Eidos said in November that it was concentrating on games for rival consoles until the PlayStation 2 market was more developed. Today the company said it decided to delay the release of three PlayStation 2 games, including "Herdy Gerdy'' and "Eden'' to the first half of the next financial year, which begins in April, "in view of the current relatively small installed base of the highly anticipated PlayStation 2 consoles.''