Next Tomb Raider title due Summer 2005?

Top Cow Productions, publishers of the Tomb Raider comic book, have revealed that the next Tomb Raider videogame is currently planned for release in Summer 2005 in a statement on the future of the comic franchise.

The company, which claims to be "participating in the redesign of the new game," is putting the Tomb Raider comic on hiatus - but it "will relaunch in conjunction with the release of the seventh Tomb Raider video game in the summer of 2005," it said.

The seventh instalment in the Tomb Raider series is currently in development at Eidos' Crystal Dynamics development studio in the United States, after the franchise was removed from creators Core Design following the serious delays and critical slating which dogged the launch of Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness last year.

Industry rumours have suggested that the new game, which is expected to be a significant re-imagining of the series and may include a major update to the Lara Croft character design, is being developed with input from Deus Ex creator Warren Spector, who runs another of Eidos' US studios, ION Storm.

As yet, Eidos has not announced any official details of its launch plans for Tomb Raider VII, which did not make an appearance at E3 last May. However, the timeline certainly makes sense; a Summer 2005 launch would give the title around two years in development, and would presumably be timed in early Summer to get the title onto Eidos' FY2005 financials.