Eidos Shares Hit New Low

Shares in British publisher Eidos Interactive have dropped to an all-time low of £0.89, in trading on the London Stock Exchange. The company’s share price dropped below £1 in September, but this is the first time it has dipped below £0.90. The fall has been attributed to rumors that the next entry in the company’s lucrative Championship Manager soccer management series will miss its intended pre-Christmas release date. Officially, Championship Manager 5 is still scheduled for an October release, but rumors have suggested that the game's release may be pushed back to March 2005. Previous iterations in the series have gone on to become the best-selling PC games of all time in the UK, beating even The Sims. But there are questions about the upcoming title, since it will be the first to be developed by a team other than the series' creators, Sports Interactive. Sports Interactive split with Eidos last year over “creative differences” and will release a rival product on November 5th, Football Manager 2005 -- published by Sega.