No Tomb Raider, Hitman until 2006?

In 2004, the fourth quarter was jam-packed with dozens of high-profile, critically acclaimed games. This year's holiday season will be a bit less crowded, however. Less than a week after Electronic Arts announced it was pushing back the Godfather until 2006, it now appears that two of Eidos' top multiplatform games won't arrive until next year.

Several Europe-based Web sites are reporting that Eidos, which was recently bought by SCi Games, has confirmed that neither Hitman: Blood Money nor Tomb Raider: Legend will ship this year. Most of the sites cite an article in the British game-trade magazine MCV, although no such article was present in the mag's online edition. According to Gamesindustry.biz, SCi reps told MCV that the two games were being delayed on all platforms to "maximize their hit potential."

Further evidence that the two games have been delayed came in the form of their product listings with American online retailers. Hitman: Blood Money was originally slated to ship for the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2 this fall. EBgames.com now lists all versions of the game as shipping on January 1, 2006. Meanwhile, EBgames.com now has the Xbox, PC, and PS2 versions of Tomb Raider: Legend as shipping on February 1, 2006. However, the PSP and Xbox 360 editions of Legend both still bear a November 2005 ship date, meaning the game will be a launch title for Microsoft's next-gen console, or, more likely, the product pages have not been updated.

While the evidence does point to a delay for Hitman: Blood Money and Tomb Raider: Legend, nothing is official...yet. When contacted by GameSpot, American Eidos reps declined to comment on the scheduling for either game.