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Tomb Raider, Blood Money go multiplatinum

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Jul 17, 2006 12:59 pm PT

Strong sales of new Hitman, latest Lara Croft adventure beat expectations; SCi now predicts $45.4 million annual profit.

When SCi Entertainment Plc won a bidding war to buy Eidos Interactive in spring 2005, many wondered if it might be a Pyrrhic victory. Specifically, it was unclear whether the once-mighty publisher's intellectual properties, which were toplined by the Hitman and Tomb Raider series, would be worth the 76.1 million pounds ($144.6 million) SCi paid for it. Both franchises were considered past their prime, with 2004's Hitman: Contracts underperforming and 2003's Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness straight-out flopping with gamers and critics.

Over a year later, SCi's gamble appears to have paid off. Today, the British publisher reported that sales of the newest entries into Eidos' two flagship franchises have both beaten its own projections.

According to SCi, Tomb Raider: Legend sold--not shipped--over 2.9 million units internationally from its launch on April 11 until June 30. The figure includes all versions of the decently reviewed game, which is now available on the PC, Xbox, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 2. The statement did not mention the PSP version of the game, which hit stores on June 21 in the US. Legend is also set to ship for the DS, GameCube, and the Game Boy Advance this fall.

SCi also was more than happy to announce that Hitman: Blood Money had exceeded its expectations as well. Since it shipped on May 30, the game has sold 1.5 million units worldwide on the PC, PS2, Xbox, and the Xbox 360. Blood Money received the highest GameSpot score of any Hitman game since 2002's Silent Assassin.

Combined with brisk sales of the soccer sim Championship Manager 2006/07, the dual success of Blood Money and Legend has made SCi bullish about its future. The company today predicted it would meet "recently upgraded market expectations" of a 25 million pound ($45.4 million) pretax profit for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2006. The company also reported it ended said fiscal year with cash reserves of more than 30 million pounds ($54.6 million)--nearly double the 15.1 million pounds predicted by "market expectations."

According to SCi's Web site, the company's preliminary annual report will be made public in September, with the final report due in October.

54 Comments

  • typester

    Posted Jul 24, 2006 8:33 pm PT

    I am vert pleased with both games. especially tomb raider. I loved the first 2 then it went downhill. Legend was so smooth and easy to control on my 360. I just finished it yesterday and can't wait for the next installment.

  • bigboss2010

    Posted Jul 19, 2006 8:14 pm PT

    I'm just very glad to see the games on the 360 are really showing their potential and this also shows that there are many more great games to come.

  • ronaldmonster

    Posted Jul 18, 2006 7:51 pm PT

    Pretty cool, i wasn't expecting Tomb Raider to sell that many because of AOD but i was wrong.

  • unreal_master

    Posted Jul 18, 2006 12:15 pm PT

    Hitman games rule ever since i played hitman 2 for ps2 i was hooked contracts threw me off with the story line then i figured it out and loved it. then blood money came out and it was basicly the best by far. Not a big fan of tomb radier but the 360 version was decent compared to the others i played. I do hope there are more hitman and tomb radier games to come. i hope they are made onto pc or 360 first then toned out for other plateforms like tomb radier was.

  • _Sam_

    Posted Jul 18, 2006 11:02 am PT

    I guess this means there is a good chance for more of these games to come.

  • Shuzen

    Posted Jul 18, 2006 8:45 am PT

    great

  • ftjx

    Posted Jul 18, 2006 5:56 am PT

    The Hitman series has always scored too low in the press, including gamespot

  • PazUSA

    Posted Jul 18, 2006 5:31 am PT

    Great to see SCi doing well and putting out two really quality games in Tomb Raider & Blood Money. I really enjoyed the latest tomb raider and am working my way through Hitman, so I'm glad they didn't give up on Lara as many had called for after some of the last bad TR games.

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Jul 18, 2006 12:34 am PT

    Good news. I hope more great games will come from them.......

  • SoberWarock

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 11:59 pm PT

    I want blood money now, but for PC b/c im a PC gamer now.

  • Katarn95

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 8:45 pm PT

    All I want is Hitman 5 now

  • rynmls

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 8:41 pm PT

    i dont have blood money yet but im planning to buy one... i think blood money will be a great game...

  • JimmyCos

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 7:49 pm PT

    bloodmoney is gold

  • Commando47

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 7:43 pm PT

    Blood Money rocked so hard that i cried with happiness now that it sold well makes me confident that a sequek is in the works which is cool.

    Online would be cool and it will settle the age old question...who will win in a fight Lara or Agent 47?

    Personally 47 will win cause he'll just poison Lara's drink or something before the match gets underway.....

    COOL!!!

  • Shawn20

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 7:15 pm PT

    Tomb Raider: Legend was a great game.

  • yugimasa9999

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 7:08 pm PT

    stealth!

  • SavoyPrime

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 6:47 pm PT

    Hopefully Tomb Raider games following Legend will be just as good or better.

  • nemes1s3000

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 6:40 pm PT

    Blood Money was well worth my money.

  • xSpitFire3x

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 5:36 pm PT

    Tomb Raider deserved to do so well after that crap AOD, Legend was exceptional!
    Blood Money wasnt that great but it was pretty fun.

  • rulo_rezn0r

    Posted Jul 17, 2006 4:30 pm PT

    whatever with this new

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