Rise of the Tomb Raider: Xbox Exclusive

[Kong Wen]

Microsoft and Crystal Dynamics were very proud to announce at Gamescom today that the next entry in the Tomb Raider reboot franchise will be Xbox exclusive. All indications point to it not being a timed exclusive, but exclusive period. My money is still on at least a PC version within a couple years, though.

This is quite a coup for Microsoft, and it must have cost them a lot of money. Still, it's probably worth it for them to have something they can try to put up against Uncharted.

What are your thoughts on this deal?

[TheGreatNads]

I wonder if this one will sell as much as the previous game. Ultimately I will hate this game so I don't really care about what platform it's released on.

[Claytone]

It's an interesting move. The smart move would have been to get the original reboot as an exclusive rather than the sequel, but obviously they didn't manage that. Will be interesting to see if the game does well as a Bone exclusive.

[SkyPikachu]

Boo screw you Square Enix!

[Kong Wen]

Boo screw you Square Enix!

Just so everyone knows going forward, I'd like to avoid this kind of "empty post" on these forums. For example, instead of just emoting, try to offer some rationale for why this move makes you react negatively. This will help us keep the quality of the discussions up.

[Kong Wen]

It's an interesting move. The smart move would have been to get the original reboot as an exclusive rather than the sequel, but obviously they didn't manage that. Will be interesting to see if the game does well as a Bone exclusive.

Update: "Obviously the deal does have a duration." - Phil Spencer

It looks like I won't have to eat my hat, as the man in charge of Xbox has seemingly confirmed the exclusive is timed. Square Enix obviously wouldn't give away a 10M-machine market, and Microsoft wouldn't be able to buy that market from them—no matter how many Xbox systems the deal would be expected to push, it would never be able to make up the slack.

All that remains to be learned is the exclusivity window / timeline. Spencer is staying mum about that for obvious reasons: he doesn't want to be the one to announce when a big game will be coming to competing platforms.

[slangman]

I am very curious to see how sales will be for Rise of the Tomb Raider as a console exclusive on XBone. Square Enix weren't too happy with how the original reboot sold, even though it sold 3.4 Million retail copies, in just a month, if I am correct.

[Kong Wen]

I am very curious to see how sales will be for Rise of the Tomb Raider as a console exclusive on XBone. Square Enix weren't too happy with how the original reboot sold, even though it sold 3.4 Million retail copies, in just a month, if I am correct.

That could be what prompted Square Enix to take a contract payment up-front. That way they'll still get the sales from the big markets on other systems, and the sales from Xbox owners, with a gravy lump sum from MS to boost the margins.

What'll be truly interesting (to both Square Enix and Microsoft) is a comparison of the sales figures during the exclusivity period with the figures from after the game has been released on other platforms. How many fans that don't already have Xboxes will buy them to get in on this game, and how many will wait for their system of choice? Will Microsoft attribute enough new sales to the deal to cover the initial cost? Etc.

[Claytone]

I am very curious to see how sales will be for Rise of the Tomb Raider as a console exclusive on XBone. Square Enix weren't too happy with how the original reboot sold, even though it sold 3.4 Million retail copies, in just a month, if I am correct.

That could be what prompted Square Enix to take a contract payment up-front. That way they'll still get the sales from the big markets on other systems, and the sales from Xbox owners, with a gravy lump sum from MS to boost the margins.

What'll be truly interesting (to both Square Enix and Microsoft) is a comparison of the sales figures during the exclusivity period with the figures from after the game has been released on other platforms. How many fans that don't already have Xboxes will buy them to get in on this game, and how many will wait for their system of choice? Will Microsoft attribute enough new sales to the deal to cover the initial cost? Etc.

Yeah, knowing that this is timed now makes me wonder why MS would pay for this. A timed exclusive will only shift Xboxes to the most impulsive buyers out there.

[Kong Wen]

Yeah, knowing that this is timed now makes me wonder why MS would pay for this. A timed exclusive will only shift Xboxes to the most impulsive buyers out there.

In general, I don't think it's a bad strategy, especially with a holiday launch window. You have a lot of people who are interested in snagging a new console and many of them only look at what's out now, not what's coming out soon. I just don't think Tomb Raider is necessarily the best game to do it with... but then again, I could be wrong. Maybe it has an obsessive fan base, especially if slangman's sales figures are right, but I always thought of it as a pretty generic adventure game.