Rise of the Tomb Raider to be an XBOX One Exclusive (UPDATE)
UPDATE: Microsoft has since clarified that Rise of the Tomb Raider will be made available to XBOX consoles first, then other consoles. No timeframe was given on how long it would be exclusive to XBOX before being released to other consoles.
During the company’s August 12th Gamescom press conference. Microsoft announced that the upcoming Rise of the Tomb Raider will be an Xbox One exclusive.
Head of studios for Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics, Darrell Gallagher explained,
“We believe this will be a step to really forging the Tomb Raider brand as one of the biggest in gaming, with the help, belief and backing of a major partner like Microsoft. This doesn’t mean that we’re walking away from our fans who only play on PlayStation or on PC. Those are great systems, with great partners, and amazing communities. We have Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris coming to those platforms this December, and Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition is available on PS4.”
Rise of the Tomb Raider is the direct sequel to 2013’s Tomb Raider, which served as a reboot of the franchise and an origin story for its heroine, Lara Croft. 2013’s Tomb Raider was critically acclaimed, but it did not meet Square Enix’s sales projections.
The decision of Xbox One exclusivity has already been met with a high level of criticism from both fans of the series and video game journalist community.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is set to launch in Holiday 2015.
Being an avid Tomb Raider fan & a PS4 owner i’m a little bothered that Crystal Dynnamics sold out to Microsoft, especially since Tomb Raider started on Playstation but i guess that’s business now and it just means we have to wait a couple of more month before we get to play ourselves. What Sony’s needs to do is release Uncharted the same week and let them compete head to head.
Juan. First. Thanks so much for replying!
Now let me mention a couple things. I’m probably splitting hairs here but I think its worth pointing out that Crystal Dynamics does not make these decisions, Square Enix does.
Also, if you are a fan of Tomb Raider, this is probably the best thing that could have happened to you. Essentially what MS did with Square Enix is subsidize the game. Remember the Tomb Raider reboot, which was critically acclaimed failed to meet Square Enix’s sales expectations, and there was a lot of chatter suggesting that Square Enix was not going to publish a sequel. Even if the rumors weren’t true it was unreasonable to expect said sequel in the near future due to those numbers. With Microsoft essentially funding some of the game’s development for this “timed exclusivity”, its safe to say Square Enix can lower their sales projections AND it means we will have more Tomb Raider games developed by team at Crystal Dynamics. We don’t know what the timeframe is for exclusivity, but expect to see a PS4 release of Rise of the Tomb Raider eventually. My guess would be 2016.