SAN FRANCISCO, August 08, 2000 - Eidos Interactive, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of interactive software products, announced today the purchase of the immensely popular Thief franchise. Eidos Interactive plans on continuing the series for PC CD-ROM and the PlayStation® 2 Computer Entertainment System.

Eidos Interactive is pleased to report that further iterations of the Thief franchise will be developed in the Austin, Texas offices of Ion Storm and will be led by Warren Spector, who contributed on the original Thief: The Dark Project. Warren has also produced other highly praised titles including System Shock, Ultima Underworld, and most recently, Deus Ex. Several members of the original Thief team have already signed on with Ion Storm to continue working on the series and more announcements are expected soon.

Warren Spector states, "With Thief, LookingGlass Studios created an entirely new kind of game and, in so doing, changed the face of gaming forever. We here in the Austin office are thrilled, proud and a bit humbled at the prospect of continuing and building on the work of the talented men and women who made Thief and Thief 2. Several of us cut our teeth working with those folks, our design philosophies were developed in collaboration with them and, plain and simple, we're fans ourselves. To all the other fans out there, we say: Rest easy. We respect the Thief tradition and we'll do everything in our power not only to live up to everyone's justifiably high expectations but to surpass them."

"This is great news for all fans of the Thief series," states Eidos’ Vice President of Development, Nick Earl. "Warren has proven his game design talents time and time again. The next Thief will undoubtedly be the greatest to date."

No release date has yet been set for the tentatively titled "Thief 3."

Eidos Interactive, Inc. is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment products for the PC, PlayStation® game console, PlayStation® 2 computer entertainment system, Sega Dreamcast(tm), Nintendo® Game Boy® Color. Eidos Interactive is part of London-based Eidos plc (NASDAQ: EIDSY) with additional offices in San Francisco, Paris, Hamburg, and Tokyo. For more information on Eidos Interactive’s product line visit http://www.eidos.com