Doom III slips in theory

Activision's quarterly earnings call has revealed a few changes to its release schedule. The most significant title to slip is surely Doom III, which has been pencilled in for Q1 2004 "for planning purposes," even though "id decides when it ships, not Activision." Other slippers include Trinity (from Grey Matter), which is now considered a fiscal year 2005 title (so, late 2004) and True Crime, which will ship later this year than previously expected.

Meanwhile, this year's other games include Tony Hawk's Underground, the GTA-inspired follow-up to THPS4, Call of Duty (PC), the first title in what Activision is hoping will become a big FPS franchise, and Empires: Dawn of the Modern World. Next year we can look forward to Pitfall Harry in Q1, and Rome: Total War will ship in Q2 2004 along with Quake IV.

New titles mentioned in the earnings report include a Tenchu title for Xbox due in Q1 (hurrah!), as well as Shrek 2 (groan), Shark Slayer (no idea) and MTX Mototrax (ditto). Also out next year is a new Spider-Man game, which will probably come out on all platforms to coincide with the cinematic release of Spider-Man II.