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OS Neutral Rise of the Tomb Raider to be Xbox Exclusive

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Aug 24, 2009
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http://kotaku.com/the-next-tomb-raider-is-an-xbox-exclusive-1620022328

Wow! Microsoft just announced that Rise of the Tomb Raider, announced earlier this year at E3, will be an Xbox exclusive out holiday 2015.

Rise of the Tomb Raider, developed by Crystal Dynamics, will be a sequel to last year's Tomb Raider reboot. Publisher Square Enix announced the game at this year's Xbox E3 conference (trailer below), but we all kinda assumed that it'd be a multiplatform game. We assumed WRONG.
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Boooo! As a big fan of the Tomb Raider franchise (old and new) this is NOT welcome news. If Tomb Raider goes Xbox exclusive then it is pretty much dead to me. :(
 
Cougarcat said:
Relax, MS clarified it's just a timed exclusive.
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Considering that the Xbox One is lagging behind the PS4, this was not a smart idea. MS needs reasons for people to buy its console. If it's going to come to other platforms, I now have absolutely no reason to purchase an Xbox One.

WTG, Microsoft. Keep shooting yourself in the foot.
 
Without exclusives there never would be a reason to buy any console if you own a computer. Exclusive are the only thing that makes them "worth" buying.

Time exclusives are even worse, what the hell are Square Enix thinking. It makes so much more sense to release it everywhere the same time to maximise profits and sales.
 
Renzatic said:
Depend. If the game ends up being incredibly good, then it being a timed exclsuive could help build drive up sales later due to some extended periods of enviousness and covetousness.
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How? If it's good and on all available platforms it'll gain momentum right away and sell well. Exclusives have never really helped, especially if they're 3rd party ones where MS or Sony didn't develop in-house.
 
N19h7m4r3 said:
How? If it's good and on all available platforms it'll gain momentum right away and sell well. Exclusives have never really helped, especially if they're 3rd party ones where MS or Sony didn't develop in-house.
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It's a risky move to be sure. If it ends up being anything less than expected, it'll end up blowing up right in everyones faces. MS won't move many consoles, and SE will never be able to make up the sales they would've gotten through the multiplatform hype rush. If it wasn't that great on the One, it likely won't be any better on the PS4 and PC, and no one will buy it once it's available.

But if it's good, and worth of mouth offers nothing but praise, then the small delay will only help build anticipation, and they could end up moving more copies than they otherwise would.

Either way, I'm sure SE is well secured. MS probably paid them a boatload of money to lock down an exclusive. So even if it doesn't sell, they've made their money regardless.
 
N19h7m4r3 said:
How? If it's good and on all available platforms it'll gain momentum right away and sell well. Exclusives have never really helped, especially if they're 3rd party ones where MS or Sony didn't develop in-house.
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Given that Square Enix has said they were not satisfied with Tomb Raider's sales, I wouldn't be surprised if if this game wouldn't exist if it weren't for this deal. Now they have guaranteed money out of the gate, and Microsoft's marketing engine to use.

If this were a permanent exclusive, I would agree. Square got the better deal, IMO.
 
Cougarcat said:
Given that Square Enix has said they were not satisfied with Tomb Raider's sales, I wouldn't be surprised if if this game wouldn't exist if it weren't for this deal. Now they have guaranteed money out of the gate, and Microsoft's marketing engine to use.

If this were a permanent exclusive, I would agree. Square got the better deal, IMO.
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If you look at all the press sites, and user comments on those, it's nothing but bad press. This hasn't helped either company make a good impression for the game.

Square-E sold extremely well with TR, but failed horrible on their japanese developed games, and graphics engines. Yet they then claimed TR, Hitman, and Sleeping dogs were failures. While all being extremely well received.
This deal with MS has hurt them far more than helped it seems.

I'm still looking forward to the game, but I'll buy it from the Mac App Store once it's available to help the mac devs the most.
 
N19h7m4r3 said:
This deal with MS has hurt them far more than helped it seems.
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Only in your world. If Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix did not believe this deal would make a strong enough business case for them, they would not have done it. Plain and simple.
 
N19h7m4r3 said:
If you look at all the press sites, and user comments on those, it's nothing but bad press. This hasn't helped either company make a good impression for the game.
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Sure, but this is the games industry. Six months later, when it's out on Steam and PS4, all will be forgotten.

Square-E sold extremely well with TR, but failed horrible on their japanese developed games, and graphics engines. Yet they then claimed TR, Hitman, and Sleeping dogs were failures.
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Tomb Raider didn't meet their internal sales figures. Whether or not those figures was reasonable is another story, but the bottom line is that they were disappointed in its sales.
 
saturnotaku said:
Only in your world. If Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix did not believe this deal would make a strong enough business case for them, they would not have done it. Plain and simple.
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Yes, because those exclusive deals with MS helped Crytek so much....

My world is also your world, and these things can easily been looked up.
 
N19h7m4r3 said:
Considering Square-Enix thought Tomb Raider failed since it ONLY sold around 6 million copies, I can not see how making it an XBOX exclusive is going to help in anyway.....

~3 mill in a month to them is a failure..
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...3-4-million-copies-failed-to-hit-expectations
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The game was really good rented it on red box and beat it for 1.50 haha. Took a good 6 hours

From what I read Microsoft paid a big chunk of the development cost to make the new game. If its just a xbox one exclusive that would be great because it means it is made for the current systems like the new Batman game. Until they start making next gen only games the current generation is going to SUCK !! As it has been. What is the only good next gen exclusive? Infamous ? Takes 8-9 hours to beat. Unless you want to spend 20 looking for dumb "collectables"

I don't think Tomb Raider is a system seller. Its not like they got exclusive on the next Final Fantasy or Metal Gear game.
 
crzdcolombian said:
The game was really good rented it on red box and beat it for 1.50 haha. Took a good 6 hours

From what I read Microsoft paid a big chunk of the development cost to make the new game. If its just a xbox one exclusive that would be great because it means it is made for the current systems like the new Batman game. Until they start making next gen only games the current generation is going to SUCK !! As it has been. What is the only good next gen exclusive? Infamous ? Takes 8-9 hours to beat. Unless you want to spend 20 looking for dumb "collectables"

I don't think Tomb Raider is a system seller. Its not like they got exclusive on the next Final Fantasy or Metal Gear game.
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Unfortunately, next-gen exclusives will not push the game duration any further, though. The higher tech specs of each new-gen consoles (or computers) does not seem to be taken advantage for that matter. Game studios keep creating shorter and shorter games as a business strategy, in order to release them sooner. And after a while...boom: DLC happens (aka more profit).

So, in terms of graphics, yes; next-gen exclusives might be something to anticipate for (although, backward compatibility is not a real excuse for a game to be inferior). But in any other terms, it will be a "been there, done that" experience.
 
N19h7m4r3 said:
Time exclusives are even worse, what the hell are Square Enix thinking. It makes so much more sense to....
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What were they thinking?! I know. They were thinking of the dollar signs when Microsoft's Game Division executive flashed some money in front of their face.

That's what they were thinking. Exclusives (timed or not) only happen because one party bribed the other party to agree to an exclusive deal.

Instant cash tends to blindside good judgment.
 
Kissaragi said:
Just hope theres a ps4 version eventually, I'm not buying an xbox for one game.
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The last console I owned was the PS2. I can't be bothered spending €400-500 on a console and then €60 for a single game either. I'll wait for the PC/Mac port that's sure to come.

This is hardly a system selling game.

Solomani said:
Instant cash tends to blindside good judgment.
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Agreed, and it nearly destroyed Crytek after they made a deal with MS for Ryse. We'll see how this plays out.
 
The sales of the last tomb raider title were both weak and slow. By taking a deal with a console manufacturer they get a payout plus free promotion as you bet that Microsoft will push this.

As for me? I have a PS4 & Xbox One so I don't care which console it comes out on.
 
im really surprised the sales of tomb raider were so small. i thought it a fantastic game and it was always on sale on steam so surprised everyone hasnt bought it.
 
madeirabhoy said:
im really surprised the sales of tomb raider were so small. i thought it a fantastic game and it was always on sale on steam so surprised everyone hasnt bought it.
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Those sales were for the first month. Since then it probably sold really well, it was on the top seller list on Steam several times during 2013 and 2014.

Edit: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...3-4-million-copies-failed-to-hit-expectations

Apparently the sales figures were for physical copies as well, so Steam, Humble and other download sites weren't included.

published in Square Enix's latest financial report, do not count digital sales.
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If they thought 3.4 million sales in a month is a failure they're going to hate having made the game a timed exclusive on the ONE. Since the latest sales figures for the console at 5 million units. They'd need every single ONE user to buy the game in the first month to be happy it seems.
 
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saturnotaku said:
WTG, Microsoft. Keep shooting yourself in the foot.
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Well I'm glad they are. I won't be buying an Xbone just to play one game on. I didn't do it for Halo and I won't be doing it for Tomb Raider. I just hope the PC release won't take long.
 
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