NEWS - Thursday, June 17, 2004
Eidos Gives Business Update
During the current financial year, the Company has successfully released on time 13 new titles (41 sku’s), which evidences the further significant improvements made by the Company in managing its development resources over the past 12 months. The Company’s most recent release, Thief: Deadly Shadows, was launched on May 25 in the US and has performed in line with management’s expectations in its first two full weeks of launch. The title also released in Europe on June 11 and while it is too early to comment on its European performance, initial reviews are very encouraging. The Company’s final planned release during the current financial year, ShellShock: Nam ’67, has been approved on PS2, is completed on PC and Xbox approval is expected imminently. On May 20, 2004, the Company reported that the recent and unexpected softness in the games market, particularly in the US, was negatively impacting unit sales of Hitman: Contracts even though it was charting well in Europe and the US (and continues to do so). Since that time, this market trend has not reversed and the industry is about to enter the traditionally quieter summer period for game sales. Given these circumstances, and notwithstanding that the game is now ready to release, the Board has decided to hold the release of ShellShock: Nam ’67 until September so as to provide this important new franchise with a better opportunity to deliver its true potential. The expected contribution from this rescheduled title will fall into the financial year June 30, 2005 and consequently the Company now expects to report a breakeven to small loss for the financial year to June 30, 2004. Eidos is the largest video games publisher and developer of entertainment software in the UK. It has publishing operations across Europe (France, Germany, Spain and the UK) and in the US, Japan and Australia. It also has significant development studio expertise, both internal and external, in Europe and the US.Source: http://www.virtualpressonline.com
