Eidos reports full year profit, expects growth in '04
Publisher Eidos has announced its final results for the financial year ended June '03, revealing a return to full-year profitability and rising turnover with four key titles each selling over a million units.
Publisher Eidos has announced its final results for the financial year ended June '03, revealing a return to full-year profitability and rising turnover with four key titles each selling over a million units.
Turnover at the company was £151.5 million, up 30 per cent year on year, while the pre-tax profit figure was £17.4 million - a reversal of last years' pre-tax loss of £15.3 million.
The company was boosted significantly by the success of four "pillar" titles, each of which sold over a million units - namely Hitman 2, TimeSplitters 2, Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness and Championship Manager 4.
As we reported this morning, however, the company is set to part ways with Championship Manager developer Sports Interactive - although the last title in the ChampMan series to be created by SI, namely the Season 03/04 update of the game, is one of Eidos' key "pillar" titles for the coming year.
The company has also decided not to pursue the chance to develop a TimeSplitters 3 with Free Radical Design - not least because it doesn't own the intellectual property for the franchise, which belongs entirely to Free Radical.
The company has outlined six "pillar" titles for the 2004 financial year, which it hopes will be a year of significant growth. Among the games fingered as key products are Commandos 3, Backyard Wrestling, Championship Manager Season 03/04, Legacy of Kain: Defiance, Deus Ex: Invisible War and Hitman 3: Contracts.
The company also has three new titles in development, based on original IP which is wholly owned by Eidos, and plans to release kids-focused character action title Whiplash and movie tie-in The Italian Job in Europe shortly.
"Eidos has successfully moved from a period in which realignment and cost control were the primary goals, to one in which the business and our strengthened management team are focused on demonstrating their competence in producing market-smart games," commented Eidos chairman John van Kuffeler. " Whilst Eidos continues to develop, the Board is confident that through our experience and knowledge of the marketplace and technology, we are managing the transition into a customer-focused, market-smart developer and publisher of entertainment software."