Tomb Raider slippage truth causes storm
Eidos 'unable to manage development process' says analyst
Following Tomb Raider's absence at retail over the past week, several conflicting stories as to the reasons behind the slippage have come to light in what is turning into somewhat of a debacle for the UK's leading videogames publisher.
Indeed, one analyst, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, has gone on record today saying that he believes Eidos is failing to manage its development projects correctly, underlining, however, the fact that TimeSplitters 2, Hitman 2 and Champ Manager 4 have all sold well.
Eidos has a different reason for the delay in Europe, which comes as somewhat of a surprise to say the least. The firm has stated that before the end of its financial year, some units will hit retail, though the majority will be in the next year, beginning in July for the firm.
"While some units may ship within the current financial year, up to one million units will ship in July, the first month of the next financial year," the company said in a statement. "This has led the Board to significantly reduce its expectations for profit before tax for the financial year ending 30th June 2003."
So it's all a tax ruse in the end? Interesting. But then another thing doesn't add up. We have learned that, as of yesterday, no copies of the PlayStation 2 game have been mastered by Sony, meaning that whatever else may be happening, nothing will be hitting retail for some time.
It's also worth bearing in mind that, in a statement to Reuters, Eidos claimed that Sony Computer Entertainment's quality assurance department had held up the release for reasons as yet undisclosed.
Given that the game's first official release date was way back last year, to get to this stage, with all these different stories doing the rounds, is shambolic in the extreme and does the Britsoft contingent no good at all.
As soon as a concrete date is in place, we'll let you know.
Indeed, one analyst, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, has gone on record today saying that he believes Eidos is failing to manage its development projects correctly, underlining, however, the fact that TimeSplitters 2, Hitman 2 and Champ Manager 4 have all sold well.
Eidos has a different reason for the delay in Europe, which comes as somewhat of a surprise to say the least. The firm has stated that before the end of its financial year, some units will hit retail, though the majority will be in the next year, beginning in July for the firm.
"While some units may ship within the current financial year, up to one million units will ship in July, the first month of the next financial year," the company said in a statement. "This has led the Board to significantly reduce its expectations for profit before tax for the financial year ending 30th June 2003."
So it's all a tax ruse in the end? Interesting. But then another thing doesn't add up. We have learned that, as of yesterday, no copies of the PlayStation 2 game have been mastered by Sony, meaning that whatever else may be happening, nothing will be hitting retail for some time.
It's also worth bearing in mind that, in a statement to Reuters, Eidos claimed that Sony Computer Entertainment's quality assurance department had held up the release for reasons as yet undisclosed.
Given that the game's first official release date was way back last year, to get to this stage, with all these different stories doing the rounds, is shambolic in the extreme and does the Britsoft contingent no good at all.
As soon as a concrete date is in place, we'll let you know.
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