Eidos, GameCube marriage: Can it be saved?

Last week's harsh words from Eidos PLC chief executive officer Mike McGarvey painted a gloomy picture for his company's continued support of Nintendo's GameCube console. McGarvey strongly suggested his company was leaving the GameCube behind, with no chance of a reconciliation.

"The GameCube is a declining business," he told The Times of London. He added, "If other companies follow us, [Nintendo] will have a hard battle to fight."

Today, Robert Dyer, president of Eidos Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK-based publisher, provided a less emphatic retreat from the GameCube platform, indicating the decision to drop Cube support was not irrevocable.

"We look at each title and try to determine if we think there is an opportunity on the Cube," he told GameSpot over the weekend. "We released Hitman 2 and Italian Job for it and will continue to look at what might work with it. As of today, we haven't announced anything coming up, but that isn't to say we wouldn't do something in the future."

Dyer's diplomatic comments notwithstanding, he did state that the US business "wouldn't commit to a platform without the UK knowing about it."

At press time, Nintendo remained mum on the prospect of being publicly dropped by one of the industry's most visible publishers.