Jugaccino

EIDOS are suffering – they have had some pretty bad news about Tomb Raider (one of their favourite games) as it has become pretty clear that the world has had just about enough of Lara Croft.  But wait a minute, EIDOS have decided they haven’t had enough of Lara Croft and instead of giving her an arguably due memorial and shed a goodbye tear, they have decided to look at how they can give her a makeover and reinvent the whole Tomb Raider package. 

Apparently poor sales figures aren’t good enough for EIDOS to move on from The Croft as the chief financial officer of EIDOS, Robert Brent, announced that, “We need to look at everything as we develop the next game.  Look at how Batman changed successfully, from the rather sad character of the Michael Keaton era to the noir style of The Dark Knight.”

Maybe that is just the angle that EIDOS should be taking.  Batman went downhill from Keaton to Kilmer to an all time low with Clooney, but now Bale’s Batman has turned the joke into a legend all over again.  But let’s be honest, we’re talking about two different mediums here, video gaming and film.  The two don’t exactly work together hand in hand, as many crappy games have proven.

Whatever happens EIDOS needs to do something.  The company’s share prices took a 30 per cent dive last week as Christmas sales results came in and showed that sale for the Tomb Raider latest version, Underworld, had not sold as many copies as EIDOS had hoped.  EIDOS have been quoted as saying that they are not worried about the uneventful sales figures, stating that they have pinned all love and hope to the coming release of their Batman game.

Still, the company has now announced that they are looking at changing Lara Croft and reinventing her whole world.  There is even talk of making Miss Croft a little more family friendly and it is being said that one of the first operations that she must undergo is a little breast reduction.  Another change for Lara is that perhaps the developers might look at giving her slightly more clothing.

The BBC claims that the gaming developer behind Lara Croft “is considering revising the look and play of her Tomb Raider adventures, which may see efforts to make her more female-friendly.”  However, EIDOS have remained extremely tight lipped on the subject, clearly wanting to give absolutely nothing away.

The failing success of Lara Croft has caused 30 job cuts at EIDOS and has put the company into disarray.  Amongst those who have lost their jobs is the creative director of the company, Eric Lindstrom.  EIDOS have spoken out about the job cuts, claiming that the company has had to start focusing more on the success of Lara Croft.  EIDOS said, “We have increased the focus on the Tomb Raider franchise at Crystal Dynamics, regrettably this has resulted in the reduction in headcount.”

This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 6:37 pm and is filed under Game Development, Gaming, Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.