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Tomb Raider sales fall short, Eidos shares plummet

By Mark Walton, GameSpot UKPosted Jan 9, 2009 4:53 am PT

Underworld's 1.5 million units sold worldwide fails to meet publisher's expectations; stock price drops 30 percent in response.

Eidos' troubles continued today, as the publisher formerly known as SCi announced that sales of Tomb Raider: Underworld have failed to meet its forecasts, selling only 1.5 million copies worldwide.

Eidos said difficulties in the North American market were to blame, with "retailers restricting inventory levels and triple-A products being price discounted above expectation." Due to the drop in demand and worries of ongoing price discounting in the US, Eidos has lowered its full-year revenue forecast by £20 million ($30.39 million).

The news caused shares in the company to plunge 5.25p ($.08) to 12p ($.18) in early trading this morning. Shares in the group skyrocketed at the tail end of 2005, reaching highs of 500p ($7.59), but have been in steady decline since; the company has lost 74 percent of its value in the past year.

The games industry, generally expected to weather the recession better than many sectors, has seen a multitude of job losses and bailouts, despite strong sales at retail. EA announced the layoffs of more than 500 staff back in October of last year (later doubling that figure), while Midway is still trying to settle its $150 million debt. More diversified companies, such as Sony and Microsoft, have also felt the pinch, embarking on vast restructuring plans, though the effect of these changes on these firms' gaming businesses is not yet clear.

Despite the gloom, Eidos remained positive about 2009 with the launch of the forthcoming game Batman: Arkham Asylum, stating, "We are working closely with DC Comics and Warner Bros. and through our strategic partnership we are benefitting from cross-promotional opportunities including the first video trailer for Batman: Arkham Asylum featured on all DVDs of the movie The Dark Knight this Christmas."

520 Comments

  • Paul_GameFury

    Posted Mar 13, 2009 4:32 pm PT

    They tried to blame retailers restricting inventory levels and price discounting? Every store I have been in had plenty of copies and the game is sold to retailers at a set price. It's up to the retailer what to sell the game for, but the still pay the same amount to the manufacturer. The only reason the game didn't sell was because everyone knew it was more of the same. I'm not saying it was a bad game; it just didn't do anything new to make more people want to buy it.

  • veteran_gamer

    Posted Feb 28, 2009 6:26 pm PT

    if this would have sold at 29 bucks a pop, they would have seen a better return. but old, over-fed & payed FAT cats are far too greedy to think in volume, the thought of not screwing the consumer and making 3 or 4 times the amount of money it costs to develop and distribute a product makes them crazy and homicidal. With time, these dinasours will die off, and younger, more reasonable, open minded and decent human beings (hopefully that is) will take charge and learn to decrease profits but last 2 or 3 more life-times. These guys are gonna go down soon, I wouldn't give them past 2012.

    It's not like they didnt have 100's of chances to get on the ball.

    r.i.p.

  • Darkman2007

    Posted Feb 1, 2009 3:17 pm PT

    price of games nowadays is crazy, i remember games being £25-30 a decade ago.

    now games range from £35- £45, which is just asking a bit too much

    that extra money means a lot, I appriciate games cost more now to produce but thats why many are multiplatform.

    the recession isnt that bad for game sales, in fact, during the recession, people stay indoors more and.....play video games, which equals more sales.

  • snooker8th

    Posted Feb 1, 2009 12:25 pm PT

    Not a bad game. Prob wouldnt buy it unless it came to the store for $30 though...

  • DEATH775

    Posted Jan 16, 2009 12:52 pm PT

    Cause making better graphic cost more.

  • snarple_basic

    Posted Jan 14, 2009 10:26 am PT

    Far as I'm concerned its that ugly $60 price tag that is preventing this from selling. Why can't developers realize that when your making a strictly 1 player game there is no way a gamer is going to think its got $60 worth of game play. If this game would have came out between $40 - $50 I think we would have seen more copies sell. What makes games like this need an extra $10 price from our last gen PS2 games??

  • frazzle00

    Posted Jan 14, 2009 4:40 am PT

    @thatboyjay

    "when you do the math, it's about 25,000 units sold. "

    And what math would that be?

    " i should wait til 2010 to release it's game on purpose. "

    What in the world are you talking about?

    "and most importantly, hire a screenplay writer so make it a good story!"

    Ah the irony .

  • thatboyjay

    Posted Jan 14, 2009 4:06 am PT

    when you do the math, it's about 25,000 units sold. that sucks. i should wait til 2010 to release it's game on purpose. also, some of the graphics don't look good when she bends. and most importantly, hire a screenplay writer so make it a good story!

  • bigcrusha

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 6:04 am PT

    Yee I'm not too suprised on that, I downloaded the demo a couple days ago and playing it almost made me sleep, I'm a prince of persia fan, games like that should be easy for me!, It was one of the most fustrating games ive ever played! and i agree with frazzle, uncharted and tomb raider are two comepletely different games, If anything id say uncharted is far better by the mile

  • frazzle00

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 5:01 am PT

    People who compare Tomb Raider titles with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune have either not played both games, or are intellectually challenged. I loved Uncharted, and I am also a big fan of Crystal Dynamic's Tomb Raider games. They are however completely different. With Uncharted the focus is more on combat than on actual platforming. The platforming sections are few and far between, and very simplistic. Not that there is anything wrong with that, since the combat is awesome (like Gears of War), and the 2 leads very charismatic. With the Tomb Raider titles, the focus is squarely on platforming. You spend the bulk of each of the Tomb Raider titles figuring out how to traverse the huge (and in the case of Underworld, very intricate) levels. Combat in Tomb Raider titles plays a negligible role at best. I personally would recommend both Uncharted and Tomb Raider: Underworld, unless you have something against excellent third person shooting, platforming or both. If not check the games out. Chances are you won't be disappointed.

  • frazzle00

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 4:53 am PT

    I'm glad GameSpot changed the title of this article. Their previous title "Tomb Raider Sales Tank" was completely inaccurate.

  • Solid_Azeus

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 12:55 am PT

    resurrect Raziel from Soul Reaver and bring back Thief instead!!!

  • ralphikari

    Posted Jan 13, 2009 12:27 am PT

    I see GS changed the headline. Smart call.

  • snoop_rogg

    Posted Jan 12, 2009 11:35 pm PT

    I loved the tomb raider series, and have bought every single one until this one, because they favored one system over another, so I'll pass until I see it for 15 bucks on the Target Clearance End Cap.

  • pure_impact

    Posted Jan 12, 2009 9:54 pm PT

    Tomb Raider shoulda been dead years ago! It takes more than big breasts to sell games nowadays Eidos!

  • Media_Mind

    Posted Jan 12, 2009 5:47 pm PT

    o, Tomb Raider has a replacement already, "Uncharted" series!!!

  • snake289

    Posted Jan 12, 2009 3:47 pm PT

    Damn Underworld was ok but it was pretty disappointting maybe its time for Lara Croft to retire...

  • gandalf_storm

    Posted Jan 12, 2009 3:14 pm PT

    i enjoyed the new tomb raider game, as I have done with all TR`s, except the pretty awful PS2 Angel of... one, I see peeps whining about autolock, ffs do you want a fun game or serious strategy game like rainbow six, its meant to be fun, emphasis on the platform/puzzle rather then shooting action, I`m also looking forward to the new batman game, if its even half as good as the films I`m in.

    Footnote to all the whiners:- Why so serious ?

  • mutley89

    Posted Jan 12, 2009 2:32 pm PT

    love how people happily swallow another batman game but want tomb raider to be over, games can be an embarassment sometimes.

  • FAcorp

    Posted Jan 12, 2009 2:22 pm PT

    I think this is the last of Tomb Raider so, rest in peace Lara Croft.

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