Eidos gives further detail on its product pipeline

Following Eidos' mid-year financial report last month, a corporate slideshow on the publisher's UK website reveals plans for new Deus Ex, Commandos, Freedom Fighters and Backyard Wrestling titles within the next 18 months.

In a section looking at games due out in financial year 2005 (which, for Eidos, runs between this July and next June), the publisher includes Tomb Raider 7, Championship Manager 5, Hitman 4, Deus Ex 'Action' game, Commandos 'Tactical Shooter', Backyard Wrestling 2, and some new IP in the shape of Crash 'n' Burn and 25 to Life.

Under the section discussing the publisher's recent acquisition of Hitman developer IO Interactive, a sequel to Freedom Fighters is also said to be in the pipeline for release in the first half of financial year 2006 (between July and December 2005). IO is also obviously working on the next Hitman game, which Eidos CEO Mike McGarvey has already confirmed is on the way. The third in the series, Hitman: Contracts, is due out on PS2, Xbox and PC this April 30th.

Speculation on Slashdot Games suggests that the Deus Ex project might be something to do with "Deus Ex: Clan Wars," which was mentioned at a City Day presentation last October. Rather than a full sequel, this one is thought to be a multiplayer shooter set in the same universe as its namesakes, due for release on PS2 and Xbox. Interestingly, it's reportedly in development at Crystal Dynamics, which might help explain rather tenuous rumours linking Deus Ex creator Warren Spector to the developer's Tomb Raider project.

Elsewhere, we already know that Championship Manager 5 is under development at London-based Beautiful Game Studios following Sports Interactive's break from the publisher last year, and we'd expect the Commandos and Backyard Wrestling franchises to stick with their respective developers. Meanwhile, US website 1UP speculates that one of the two new titles - Crash 'n' Burn and 25 to Life - might be the third-person, urban-themed action game that Highway 1 Productions is busy producing for the publisher under a recently announced agreement.

That project is expected to be unveiled at E3 this year, and if these games really are due out in the company's 2005 financial year, we'd expect a good number of them, if not all, to show up on Eidos' E3 stand next month in Los Angeles.