Huge pay-off for Lara's creator

THE man who helped create Tomb Raider cyberbabe Lara Croft is in line for a multi-million pound pay-off after his shock exit from computer games group Eidos.

Jeremy Heath-Smith, 43, quit as development director last week. Analysts said he was ousted because of delays in launching the latest Lara Croft game, Angel of Darkness, which prompted a recent profits warning from Eidos.

Heath-Smith is entitled to royalty payments linked to the success-of each new Lara Croft game. In the past he has pocketed as much as £4m under this arrangement.

But Heath-Smith could earn even more this time because Angel of Darkness, the sixth in the series, is already the fastestselling Tomb Raider with sales expected to top two million copies.

The all-action game has had rave reviews. It was launched in the PlayStation 2 format on 4 July -- eight months late. Heath-Smith ran the 35-strong team that spent two years writing the software. Physicists worked out the effects of gravity on Lara's voluptuous figure while programmers made her movements more lifelike.

Heath-Smith founded Core Design in 1988 using a £16,000 loan from his wife. Core was later sold to another games software company, which in turn was bought by Eidos. Heath-Smith joined the Eidos board as an executive director in 1996 and became its global head of development. He earned £622,000 last year, making him the highest-paid Eidos director.

His contract recently changed, giving Eidos the right to serve him 12 months' notice, but only after March 2003. Negotiations about Heath-Smith's pay-off were continuing, an Eidos spokesman said.

Shares in Eidos fell sharply on news of his sudden departure, losing 14% on the week to close at 122 3/4p.