Speaking in a wide-ranging interview with Gaming Indians, Livingstone confirmed that new Hitman and Kane and Lynch games are in development at Denmark-based developer IO Interactive, with the latter targeted for a September 2009 release.
Despite earlier Eidos comments to the contrary, Livingstone also claimed that sales of Tomb Raider Underworld “met our target expectations.”
“… As a franchise, I don’t think Lara Croft is going down at all,” he said. “In fact, her popularity continues to increase… The next Tomb Raider, I think, will surprise a lot of people and reinvigorate the franchise. There are some remarkable things we’re doing in the next Tomb Raider.”
Livingstone also moved to explain the decision to delay the release of Batman Arkham Asylum until late summer.
“We’re expecting review scores in the 90s and clearly when you have an amazing game like Arkham Asylum, you want to maximise its potential. So we think it’s worthwhile going that slightly extra distance to make it the game it has to be.”