450°

The Business Decisions Behind Rise Of The Tomb Raider

Ben Hanson writes: "After four years in the making, the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider was released and impressed both critics and fans of the classic franchise. While visiting Crystal Dynamics, we spoke with head of western studios Darrell Gallagher about the struggle to create a fresh take on Lara Croft and the immediate news from Square Enix that the title commercially 'underperformed'." ;

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OpieWinston3348d ago

It's interesting to hear that they have had a partnership with Microsoft for so long, ever since Tomb Raider: Underworld. With exclusive DLC, and I personally had completely forgot about that.

I've been loving all these details thanks to Gameinformer.

christocolus3348d ago (Edited 3348d ago )

I never knew they had been in partnership for that long. Good to know.

According to CD studio head,they needed to partner with MS again on RTR so they could achieve all they've always planned for the game after all i doubt SE was willing to invest that much into the game this time around. Once they are done with this i hope MS works with them to reboot Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.

jb2273348d ago

In the video the guy plainly says that Rise would've existed w/o MS' involvement. My guess is that most of their help amounts to a marketing push. This should put to rest the whole argument of whether or not this game would've existed w/o the exclusivity deal.

ABizzel13348d ago

jb277 beat me to it

The video clearly says it was happening regardless, the game was up for pre-order on XBO, PS4, 360, and PS3, then the exclusivity deal happened and it was XBO and 360 only.

CD or SE got a check from MS to cover a decent amount of PS sales, and just like with EA, MS closed the deal before common sense kicked in.

A good win for MS and the Xbox, but CD and SE pretty much threw away 60% of their fanbase for an upfront check, and it just goes to show the insane level of corporate greed some people have.

mkis0073348d ago

Chris

...except sf5 would not have happened at this stage without sony...they have said as much.

christocolus3348d ago (Edited 3347d ago )

@mkis

At the announcement of the exclusive deal Last year. Darrel clearly stated that the deal with MS would help them realise their vision for TR.they also stated that MS would be supporting the title fully. MS is the publisher of the game.that means they will be assisting in every aspect of the game including funding,development and marketing.

http://www.destructoid.com/...

ABizzel13347d ago Show
freshslicepizza3347d ago (Edited 3347d ago )

it's a timed exclusive deal and it will likely come to the ps4 within 6 months to a year. the deal works for both partners otherwise there wouldn't be a deal to begin with. microsoft will advertise the game which frees up square from having to do that.

i think these deals don't really benefit anyone other than the parties involved. same with full exclusive deals like street fighter. they only benefit the people involved with the deal leaving the consumers trying to decide what to do. (this only applies to third party since first and second party games will naturally be sponsored by the hardware maker and the consumer is well aware of those games and where they will end up).

GameNameFame3347d ago (Edited 3347d ago )

lol @Chris

full vision? of what exactly? vision of limited weak hardware?

Also, the article confirms it would have existed without MS deal. Meaning, it was purely business deal to "i will give you this much if you don't release on PS4 for time period."

Also, lets not get too excited over confirmed timed exclusive. and idk why SFV was even brought up besides for troll attempt, but at least that game is confirmed to only appear on PS4... EVER. not timed. not only in 2015. ever.

live with it.

bluzone3347d ago

I've never understood how this game is rated as underperforming with sales of 6 million.
http://www.gamespot.com/art...

"Square Enix boss Darrell Gallagher says milestone will be reached by the end of the month; game has now "exceeded profit expectations."

Sevir3347d ago

MS came to them about this because Uncharted 4 was primed for a 2015 release And they wanted something to match/rival that monster of an IP.

But CD has been partnering with MS for the longest. The game was always going to exist and be multiplatform, but s business deal was worked out to give the game an audience for xb while PS was left with just Uncharted. And for them it made sense. Uncharted has become something of a behemoth and an industry standard for games that follow in it tightly not linear narrative.

Either way, having played The reboot and loving it on PS4 i can't wait for this game to release. It looks from, the screens, beautiful and I can't wait to play it when it makes it's way on to PS4 next year.

Pogmathoin3347d ago

X1 GPU: 1.18 TF GPU (12 CUs) for games 768 Shaders 48 Texture units 16 ROPS 2 ACE/ 16 queues PS4 GPU: 1.84TF GPU ( 18 CUs) for games + 56% 1152 Shaders +50% 72 Texture units +50% 32 ROPS + 100% 8 ACE/64 queues +400% #1.1.12

This is your profile Gamenameshame.... Sums you up lamely if this describes you.... Go watch The Order..... Have a nice day 😃

SonyAddict3347d ago

I would rather play sfV than shitty TR any day of the week haha hahaaaa...lol

christocolus3347d ago

@pogmathion

Are you for real? that's his profile? lmao...actually it isn't surprising one bit. the guy is a weird one.lol. he basically posts his profile in every xbox one/dx12 article. watch him jump into the next dx12 article to downplay its significance on xbox one once again. XD

@Sonyaddict

Really?is that all you got to say?lol.

IGiveHugs2NakedWomen3347d ago

The developer claims that this business deal was beneficial. Help me understand something... Anyone can answer... How in the world is not releasing your game on the platform with a 20 million user install base going to be beneficial to your game? The things that some of the people in this industry say just don't make any sense at all.

Gamer19823347d ago

Lets be honest they like EA backed the Xbox thinking like the rest of devs theres a good chance the Xbox is going to come out the gates this gen not only on top but were gonna dominate this gen. EA certainly thought it with titanfall as did CAPCOM with Dead Rising. So they all signed exclusive deals as they wanted to go with the console that had the biggest audience. As a game developer you want to go with the biggest audience if your going to make these kind of deals as it makes the most sense or you can actually lose money.
That clearly didn't happen as we all know as MS completely botched the Xbox launch and have been playing catchup since then and the devs of Tomb Raider are just coming up with a new reason every month why they backed MS other than the truth.

They saw fan feedback for Bayonetta which was a rare case in videogame development which had little interest from gamers and the original sold poorly which Nintendo picked up and backed and copied the excuse they used. The difference is the original Tomb raider a few years ago has sold well it sold MILLIONS and even the ps4 and Xbox One copies sold over 1 million combined just after launch. That's impressive for a 3rd party remake.

NuggetsOfGod3347d ago (Edited 3347d ago )

http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...
Yes the game would have been made but to what level of quality?

This artcle also states that the last game under preformed.
Maybe becuase of that TR would have been smaller game.
So miscroft steped in.
Why would SE try to invest more into an under preforming game sales wise?
I am happy MS helped.

"Crystal has been investing in that game and Square has as well, in Tomb Raider as a franchise, nd wanting to put it at the highest level, with the big triple-A franchises out there, but that's expensive. For us, as we've been working together on this, it's a nice franchise for us in terms of the genre and how it fits into our first-party portfolio. Do I wish I had an owned IP first-party action adventure game? Absolutely. But I don't right now. This is one that fits well and we had such a good working relationship with them.

And they want to build that game up to the same level as any of the huge triple-A games out there. It used to a big dominant game. Crystal has done a great job in rebuilding it since '09, when they started kickstarting it, but continuing to invest at that level, it takes a partnership." - phil spencer

If it was sony everyone would find a way to say good job sony!
And they saved SE lol

I used to think pc gamers were cocky but they just are at a better quality.

Sony gamers are worse than pc gamers officially.

I think it will come to pc after.

Porting from windows 10 to windows 10 should not to bad lol
That's ms real nuke bomb. Windows.

Manic20143347d ago

@jb227

Darrell Gallagher, stated that Tomb Raider will alway exist as it is such a huge character/franchise but MS are funding the development cost and co publishing the game. He also stated that MS have sent their people to help with the development a.k.a they're basically co developing the game.

@Sevir

"MS came to them about this because Uncharted 4 was primed for a 2015 release And they wanted something to match/rival that monster of an IP.

Either way, having played The reboot and loving it on PS4 i can't wait for this game to release. It looks from, the screens, beautiful and I can't wait to play it when it makes it's way on to PS4 next year."

Well first of all SE came to MS with the opportunity of making the game exclusive to Xbox. Phil stated that was during the interview with Eurogamer. As for the game coming to the PS4, I would not hold on to that, I'd see it coming to PC if anything else. Due to the fact MS are publishing the title.

BG115793347d ago

So game sells more than 6 million and still doesn't enough profit to invest in the next version?
Is this bad management or just to many leeches in the project?

+ Show (15) more repliesLast reply 3347d ago
Magicite3348d ago

I really hope this game also comes out on PC or at least PS4, but if it doesnt, then let it be so, gonna buy X1 when it ~100euros used (gonna buy it anyway for best exclusives).

christocolus3348d ago (Edited 3348d ago )

@Magicite

It will most likely end up on PC as MS so far has only released their timed third party exclusives on PC only.
Cant wait to see gameplay at GDC or E3 though. I believe RTR will be one of the best games releasing this year also for those of us hoping to get some info on Halo 5 campaign sooner than E3 we might in luck.

https://twitter.com/XboxP3/...

@URNightmare

Titanfall, Dead rising 3 and Ryse are not on PS4 but they are on PC and MS partnered with those studios too. it may end up on PS4 but at this point PC is more likely.

URNightmare3348d ago (Edited 3348d ago )

And PS4.

Read ziggurcat's comment below for reference. RTR on PS4 is a logical thing.

Jayszen3347d ago

This is all about putting gloss on a situation. The Tomb Raider franchise has been on Playstation consoles for as long as anyone can remember and have in fact sold the most on this console (not comparing to PC, just consoles). Had this been an exclusive on PS4, the devs would have touted that instead. The reboot was released on PS4 and outsold the Xbone version and many gamers looked forward to the sequel as a result. To then restrict the game to a single console is, frankly, a slap in the face of the majority of gamers.

As I recall, SE were not at all happy at the performance of the reboot so to then keep it from the best-selling consple makes no business sense unless Phil had to pay big money. Of course, Microsoft have done exactly this but do you not think that Xbox users would have been better served if money like this is best used towards creating their own exclusive IPs? In addition, Microsoft say they care about gamers but then facilitated a situation where the majority will not be able to play the game. This was not an exclusive and the game was announced for all the consoles until much later.

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bleedsoe9mm3348d ago

sounds like ms isn't only publishing its almost a co developer .

yarbie10003348d ago (Edited 3348d ago )

Phil Spencer on Tomb Raider: "Now, obviously if I'm going to partner on it, I'm a platform holder, I'm hardly going to invest to go make the PlayStation version of any game. It is a business. So when we go invest with a partner on a big franchise, we're going to come with certain needs we have out of the relationship."

ziggurcat3348d ago

phil spencer, also on tomb raider:

"I don't own them building Tomb Raider on other platforms. I can't talk about the franchise that way. I can talk about the deal I have."

"I have Tomb Raider shipping next holiday exclusively on Xbox. It is Xbox 360 and Xbox One. I'm not trying to fake anybody out in terms of where this thing is. What they do with the franchise in the long run is not mine. I don't control it. So all I can talk about is the deal I have. I don't know where else Tomb Raider goes."

"Yes, the deal has a duration. I didn't buy it. I don't own the franchise."

"No. It's not because I'm trying to be a headfake on anybody. It's a deal between us and the partner. People ask me how much did we pay. There are certain things I'm just not going to talk about because it's a business deal between us and them. Obviously the deal does have a duration. I didn't buy the IP in perpetuity."

http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

RiseofScorpio3348d ago (Edited 3348d ago )

"What CD and SQ do with the franchise long term is up to them, I don't own the franchise"

LONG TERM, Rise of the Tomb Raider in the context of a franchise is short term. I am positice MS have full rights to this game but not anything subsequently afterwards. So far all of MSs third party deals on XB1 for big games have not showed up on a direct competing platform.

ziggurcat3348d ago

@waluigi:

a deal for the holidays 2015 is not long-term.

and they certainly *do not* have full rights to this game. SE holds the rights to the game.

TheNew13348d ago

@ziggurcat

He was talking about the franchise as a whole. They don't own the Tomb Raider IP, therefore, if they want to release another Tomb Raider game (like temple of osiris) on other platforms then they can.

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Sayburr3348d ago

From what Yarbie1000 and Ziggurcat posted, it reads kinda like Microsoft has a deal for this game to make it exclusive, but they didn't buy the IP so they have no control what is done after the duration of the contract is over...

So, does that mean that Crystal Dynamics can release the game on PS4, after the duration of the contract, under a different name such as "Rise Of The Tomb Raider Super Duper PS4 edition"?

kurruptor3348d ago

General opinion is that there it is simply a timed exclusive, at least covering the holiday 2015 period.

They probably won't have to give it a new name if they go to PS4.

bleedsoe9mm3348d ago

i wonder if the contract is similar to DR3 , ryse or titanfall , over a year and still no ps4 version for the first 2 . i also wonder if there are options in the contract for more games in the future .

christocolus3348d ago (Edited 3348d ago )

@Sayburr

My thoughts exactly, was going to post the exact same thing. MS deal is for RTR alone, whatever SE decides to do with the franchise after that is left to them but at this point a PC release is most likely going to happen after the Xbox release. just like Ryse , DR and Titanfall

-Foxtrot3348d ago (Edited 3348d ago )

Put it this way if Rise of the Tomb Raider was 100% a Xbox exclusive and I mean it's a done deal then I'm pretty sure Phil and co would be flaunting the game about...making it bloody well known that what they've just paid for is only going to be on their consoles....EVER

The fact that he's dithering in interviews, trying to steer the convo away with unsure answers which doesn't really answer the question in full is a sign that it's going to come to the PS4 in the future

The reason he's not saying it is coming to the PS4 is because he wants the attention of the game on his console. If he says it's coming to the PS4 then those die hard TR fans who would of bought an Xbox One for the game would probably end up holding back for the PS4 version. Can't blame him to be honest, it's just common sense

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3348d ago
Blackleg-sanji3348d ago

Well safe to assume it will only be Xbox,pc and 360 shame I have to miss this(not getting an Xbox one this yr or rather the wife won't let me jus after buying a wiiu, ps4 and 3ss in 2014)

BlackTar1873348d ago

I need to buy a wiiU have the PS4 and One but like you my wife isn't very happy about buying a wiiU. We alos have no room but i see no issue with it :p

Death3348d ago

Keep in mind what your wife doesn't know can't hurt you. ;)

Blackleg-sanji3348d ago

O man the amount of a** kissing I had to do to justify the wiki right after the ps4 was insane lol let's jus say I'm still paying for it

KiwiViper853348d ago

I traded my wife for an Xbox One and $50 Microsoft store credit. It was a deal they had last year.

I miss her tho.

iceman063348d ago

@KiwiViper85...Lucky for you Gamestop has a buy one get two deal on all trade ins. Sure, your wife might not be in her original packaging...and be slightly used. But, you get 2 more for FREEEE!!! LOL

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Highlife3348d ago

You won't miss it. You will likely have to wait a year.

http://gamerant.com/rise-of...

kurruptor3348d ago

Where are you getting the "year" figure from? Just an opinion.

Honestly I think it was it was that long of a duration, MS wouldn't have said something other than holiday exclusive.

OrangePowerz3348d ago

I don't think that it will only release there and that it's a fully exclusive game.

Blackleg-sanji3348d ago

I truly hope not I double dipped on the 1st one for ps3 and ps4 so I feel a ill salty

Utalkin2me3348d ago

Coming out on 3 platforms is not fully exclusive.

Godmars2903348d ago

The main issue stems from the game, the sequel, being announced first, *then* becoming an exclusive.

gangsta_red3348d ago

That shouldn't be a main issue. The deal was done, it was never announced as a multiplatform game. And from sources it seems MS id doing more than just *buying* exclusive rights and is also helping to fund and publish the game.

Utalkin2me3348d ago

It is multi platform though, on 3 different platforms. Hence, Multi platform...

Godmars2903348d ago

It was first officially shown with no indication whatsoever of it being an exclusive, and is a direct sequel to a game which was multiplatform. Is a title which continues the developing story of a character.

At the very least there's strong indication that some last minute negotiations. That maybe, like with SF5 being PS4-only, this TR title would have taken a few more years to be released, but still unlike SF5, TR was announced before it had been revealed to be exclusive.

Aside from that there is no other issue with it.

jb2273348d ago (Edited 3348d ago )

Well considering after its reveal until the time it was announced as a timed exclusive, there were preorders available everywhere for the PS4 version, and also considering the first trailer never passed itself off as an exclusive, that's an announcement if I've ever heard one. Not like it would be the first time that MS made a quick kneejerk purchase considering Respawn themselves didn't know about the full exclusivity of Titanfall until the public was made aware.

The Crystal Dynamics guy in the video plainly said that the game would've existed w/o Microsoft's involvement so I highly doubt they are helping fund the game itself. Phil Spencer himself said that he wouldn't fund a game that he didn't own the rights to. Beyond that it would be a legal mess to slog through, as MS would hold rights to certain elements of the production by helping to fund & develop it, as well as MS losing resources & personnel that could be working on true exclusives. All of that talk about MS helping to make the game sounds like a nicer way of saying that they've stayed in touch w/ the game's progression, nothing more nothing less. MS could eat the full marketing costs for sure and that could loosen up some funds to put towards development but even that's not necessarily a given, all this talk of this game not existing or being some lesser version w/o this deal seems to be pretty off base.

-Foxtrot3348d ago

Not to mention Square Enix being highly disappointed with Tomb Raiders "low" sales despite the fact they were actually pretty good.

So a game you "think" has low sales is better off on fewer platforms, even the one which install base is very high and is growing every day

Makes sense

gangsta_red3348d ago

"So a game you "think" has low sales is better off on fewer platforms, even the one which install base is very high and is growing every day"

Especially if that platform's company that has a slightly less install base can fund production and absorb cost so when those same sales do come in Square won't take a financial hit as hard as they did with the first Tomb Raider.

Makes perfect sense to me.

OrangePowerz3348d ago

The business decision is rather easy. Assuming it launches around the time Uncharted 4 comes out the sales on PS4 for the game wouldn't be that high, so they get extra money from MS for the timed exclusive deal and MS will market the game as much as they can in an attempt to counter UC4.

Square will release it 6 months later on the PS4 and will enjoy higher sales on the platform than what they would get when releasing at the time UC4 comes out. For Square it's a win-win-win situation by getting back some of the development costs, letting MS pay for the marketing and maximising sales.

BitbyDeath3348d ago

Not sure why the disagrees, that makes good business sense.

Mega243348d ago (Edited 3348d ago )

it hurts the fanbase though, and there's no actual talk if it's even coming to PC. All they been saying is Xbone and 360. I hope it doesn't turn out like Ryse, Crytek went bankrupt thanks to that.

Edit: well not just Ryse, Cryengine being expensive as well.

Godmars2903348d ago

Because that's the same thing that happened with Bioshock and Mass Effect? Those game sold better or as well on the PS3 after they had been on the 360 for over a year?

If there were example of this being a "good business decision" I'm certain that you could provide one, but there are only bad examples.

Foehammer3348d ago (Edited 3347d ago )

My guess is RTR will be like the other X1 games, Ryse, DR3, TF (original), that is to say they were only on X1, and maybe 360 or PC.

Perhaps Godmars290 can post a link to where he say Bioshock and ME had similar sales?

Because according to everyones favourite source, those games sold better on 360.

In some cases, 2x as well.

EDIT, Apologies to Godmars290, I failed to notice the question marks.

OrangePowerz3348d ago (Edited 3347d ago )

@Mega

Crytek ruined themselves, they had been plenty of times in the news for bad managment on German sites. There was also one "funny" story where they got raided by the Police because they used illegal software to make games, if you don't provide your team with the legal versions of the tools needed and cheapen out you do something very wrong. Nothing came of it and it was blamed on an inhappy ex-intern, but that's one side of the story. They did get several studios at some point without having really the cash reserves to support them until they would be able to release games or sustain them if those games wouldn't sell huge amounts. Their plan was also to shift to F2P games and away from retail games while the only F2P game they had wasn't doing that amazingly. Ryse didn't sell great, but that's hardly what did them in.

@Godmars

Those are franchises that started on Xbox and PC so it was always more likely that they would sell less on the other platform. TR has an existing fanbase on the PlayStation consoles.

@Foe

I wouldn't see why Square would make it anything besides of timed exclusive and the language used so far by Phill doesn't paint the picture that it would be permanently exclusive to X1, 360 and PC. Before July next year you will get at least an announcement for a PS4 release date and the game will get some extra naming convention like "Survivor Edition" or something like that.

Godmars2903347d ago

@Foehammer:
How do you fail to understand that my argument is counter to Orange's? That after six months to a year or when ever the game comes out on the PS4, and it is suppose to be coming to the console, that it wont sell as well as on the XB1?

That aside from whatever backdoor deals that went on, that this isn't good business in regards to the general market in regards to a multiplatform franchise.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 3347d ago
Speak_da_Truth3348d ago (Edited 3348d ago )

"Square will release it 6 months later on the PS4 and will enjoy higher sales on the platform than what they would get when releasing at the time UC4 comes out".
Truth is, they'll have to do something special for Some Ps4 fans to buy it on Ps4 because most ppl I know just say they will not support it by either buying it used, renting it or not playing it all together.

-Foxtrot3348d ago

I guess some people will feel slapped in the face that they've had to wait longer for the game and now they are expected to buy it

As you've said Square would have to do something special to make the wait seem worth it.

Best they can do in my opinion is bundle all the DLC for it and even the Pre order stuff

Mr-Dude3347d ago

If SE and CD can afford to alienate more than half of their fanbase, they can afford to lose sales to the used marked.

jb2273348d ago

I'm not so sure about that. UC4 is a guaranteed success but Rise would most likely be as well. Gamers like myself who enjoy Action Adventure titles in this vein rarely get these kinds of games, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that a fan of the genre would purchase both on release. I know I would have, but something about the potential for a series that I've started migrating to where I couldn't continue that story doesn't set right with me, so my principles won't let me buy it new when it does drop for the PS4.

That said, good on the developers for working to differentiate themselves from Uncharted by going the open world survival route, but that robs my favorite aspect of these games, varied locales & changing scenery. Even beyond that, stories have traditionally been much better told when a game follows a more linear path. The TR reboot's story was pretty forgettable in my eyes. Everything else was great, but that story was just really subpar & every character was just lackluster for me, I had no connection to any of those people.

OrangePowerz3348d ago

You (I presume) and I aren't on a tight budget where we need choose between one or the other. Your average Joe doesn't buy games as frequently as core gamers and takes a lot more time to finish a game if he/she finishes the game at all. My backlog probably consists of more games than what the mainstream consumer buys in a year :)

Is the next one open world? I thought it's going to be like the reboot, linear with more open areas.

jb2273347d ago

@orangepowerz

That is a good point. I guess I just don't typically see games like Uncharted & Tomb Raider reaching the average joe much these days anyway, but that could all change this holiday. We are going to have this genre going toe to toe w/ the mp fps juggernauts of Halo & CoD, it would be nice to see some of that power change hands. The Action/Adventure genre has always been my favorite & I'd love to see more of them succeed & become the smash hits they deserve to be.

Well I guess Rise will be more of what the first was in terms of the environment. Not necessarily a full open world like a GTA or Just Cause in a sense of being fully open w/o load times but in the sense that it'll mostly be taking place in one main setting & that backtracking will be easily accessible and encouraged. I know there's at least one other section that doesn't take place in Siberia but it doesn't sound like much beyond that. Early on they mentioned it being a more globe trotting type affair and I kinda assumed that would mean like the difference between UC1 & UC2 in terms of locales but that doesn't seem to be the case.

ABizzel13348d ago (Edited 3348d ago )

@Orange & Bitby

Seems like the logical thing to do, but the problem is a game that releases late on another console almost ALWAYS struggles to find the same level of success it did on the previous console.

Holding a game back 6 months is just as much of a death sentence if not more than launching with Uncharted.

At least launching by Uncharted gamers can pick up Tomb Raider on Black Friday, which would still be a full sell for them, and better yet they could have had a Drake and Lara bundle, since both franchises compliment one another.

Moving back 6 months pretty much kills any momentum the game had, and alienates 60% of their fanbase, and leaves room for angry gamers to post do not buy Tomb Raider petitions which all devastate sales, instead of moving the IP forward.

It was just bad business on CD and SE part, and hopefully for their sake the deal they made with MS covers the potential damage.

Edit

Look no further than comments like @Skankinruby below us. It's a bit immature, but deals like this really affect people, and at the end of the day a game is just like a celebrity. You don't respect your audience and they'll end your career.

OrangePowerz3347d ago (Edited 3347d ago )

Similar to my response to JB a lot of that is in regards of the core gamer like us who hang around sites like n4g and other gaming related outlets. While there are upset fans, the large majority of gamers don't know about all that stuff or take part in those squabbles over Square betraying their fans or not or boycotting the game. The % of fanbase alienated will be a lot lower than 60%. The average gamer also doesn't have all the consoles and if the game is received well they will still look forward it even if it's 6 months later. A lot of the cases where the game doesn't sell that well 6 months later is franchises like Bioshock or Mass Effect that started on the other platform and don't have an existing fanbase. As much as huff and puff about how they won't buy the game if it comes to PS4 later they will still buy it if it's received well.

It's also not necessarily a case of holding the game back for 6 months. The amount of people the studio has is limited to a certain amount of employees. It is completely possible that if the game would be releasing at the same time for PS4 that it wouldn't make the holiday season release and instead be done a few months later because they might not have the resources to complete all versions at the same time.

There are valid points to consider how it wouldn't be good business, but I do think that they can maximise their sales and profits that way and while it temporarily upsets fans they will calm down again and forget about it and buy the game when they can. In the end it's all speculation since we will never know really what would be better we can just assume certain factors and try to make a picture out of it.

The only really bad deal would be if they would not release it on PC and PS4. In that case they would kill a fair amount of sales for any future sequel of the reboot on PS4 and given the install base that's not something you want to do no matter how much money you get offered in the short term.

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70°

It’ll Be Fine, Right? Five Games With Unfortunate Release Strategies

Mark from WellPlayed writes about five game launches that were impacted by unfortunate scheduling.

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well-played.com.au
jznrpg353d ago (Edited 353d ago )

Zero Dawn sold really well so I’m not sure this belongs. The second game released next to a big game again and it hurt it some I forget what it was though, oh yeah Elden Ring .
But a good game is a good game to me I don’t care when they release personally but they do have to think about it when you want to get more people to buy it.

250°

The Tomb Raider Survivor Trilogy's Take on Lara Croft Deserved More Recognition

The Survivor Trilogy was a drastic reimagining of Lara Croft and Tomb Raider, and it provokes changes for the character that are truly fantastic.

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gamerant.com
isarai466d ago (Edited 466d ago )

Deserves less IMO, i think the 1st in the new trilogy was a perfect 1st step for the new direction. The next 2 games were half steps at best. Not only that, every character in the series including Lara is just annoying and doesn't make sense in terms of motive, like yes they have a motive, but none of it seems proportional to the lengths they are willing to go through for it. The most annoying thing is every one of the games say "become the Tomb Raider" yet 3 games later and we're still not there? No thanks. Then there's the mess of the 3rd game, massive skill tree that serves almost no purpose as there's literally only like 3-4 short encounters in the whole game, and they took till the 3rd game to finally manage some decent puzzles even remotely close to previous games in the series. Nah, the trilogy infuriated me to no end as a long time fan of the series, i hope we get better going forward cause that crap sucked.

Army_of_Darkness465d ago

The first in the trilogy was my favorite. I thought they were going into the right direction with that one until the second one came out and seemed like a graphical downgrade but the gameplay was okay. As for the Third, Graphics were really nice but it was kinda boring me to death with its non-stop platforming and exploring with not enough action! Well, for me anyway...

DeathTouch465d ago

Graphics on the 3rd one were abysmal. It’s more colorful and has more variety, but everything else was a noticeable downgrade.

The more open world with NPC quests was also handled very poorly, to the point I missed Angel of Darkness.

thesoftware730465d ago

I know it is your opinion, but she did progress as a character in each game, she even got more muscular and seasoned.

That is the thing, people first complained that there was not enough platforming and actual tomb raiding in the first and second games. Shadow remedied that and kept the combat elements.

3-4 encounters? huh? did we play the same game? there was plenty of combat and, the skill tree did matter, like being able to hang enemies from trees, set explosives traps on bodies, being able to counter, and that are just a few of the combat skills. The skill tree also had things like being able to hold your breath underwater longer, crafting upgrades, zipline upgrade, and climbing upgrades that all changed how you can approach situations.

Not knocking your opinion, but we definitely had different experiences. I had 98% completion on the shadow.

SoulWarrior465d ago (Edited 465d ago )

Sorry but i'm with him about the low number of encounters, the game throws loads of weapons and skills you're way with a comparatively low amount of places to actually use them, so they felt under utilised.

-Foxtrot466d ago

Yeah...no

It was awful, for THREE GAMES it was "become the Tomb Raider" where she went back to square one after each game. Not to mention after a huge reaction of killing someone for the first time she then becomes Rambo straight after and goes on a slaughter spree without a single other reaction. Her development was all over the place.

She was whiney, weak and in later game a little arrogant and selfish

Oh and the voice actress compared to the previous ones was not as good

Lara Croft deserved better and while they are decent games as they are, we deserved actual Tomb Raider games, we could have had better survival games if they just stuck with the original Lara Crofts origin about her plane going down. Surviving 2 weeks in the Himalayas...I'd have liked to seen that, who knows what mystical threat she could have faced in the mountains or underground some secret concealed cave.

Tacoboto465d ago

I thought Shadow of the Tomb Raider had better gameplay than Rise, but it annoyed me the most of the trilogy when I stopped to think about the story.

It's like they deliberately decided to make her unlikeable and did nothing to make the character you're playing as likeable or have even one sign of humility.

SoulWarrior466d ago

2013 I thought was a fine entry, but Rise and especially Shadow were painfully mediocre follow ups imo, I really didn't like how selfish and angry her character was in those two.

Terry_B465d ago

No. Please forget the crap completely.

northpaws465d ago

First one was decent, played through it twice.
Second one was okay, played through it once.
Third one was really bad, tried twice a year apart, still can't get through the first two hours, it is just really bad.

thesoftware730465d ago

Honest question, what did you find bad about it? the opening 2 hrs of Shadow were fantastic imo.

The opening was very similar to the first 2, what did you find really bad?

Not looking for an argument, just an honest question.

Starman69465d ago

3rd one just didn't feel like a tomb raider game. Possibly because the development was passed to another development team. Big mistake! Microsoft killed tomb raider making the first game a timed exclusive. Never recovered after that.

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200°

Get three Tomb Raider games free at Epic Games Store

Starting today, Tomb Raider, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Rise of the Tomb Raider are free at Epic Games Store. The free game offers run until January 6 at 11 AM Eastern. Once you claim them, they’re yours to keep.

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gamefreaks365.com
CrimsonWing69845d ago (Edited 845d ago )

They're all solid games, but nothing quite matched the epicness of the first one for me. I think the 3rd one started off strong but once you got to that Peruvian area it took a massive nose dive for me.

lelo2play845d ago (Edited 845d ago )

You got to be kidding!
The first one was great at the time... but this latest trilogy of Tomb Raider games are also great.

LiViNgLeGaCY845d ago

I think he means the first one in the new trilogy.

CrimsonWing69845d ago

I meant the first of the new trilogy.

Furesis845d ago

yeah i remember liking the first one when it came out, so i tried the second one sometime after release and i just could not get into it, i couldn't finish it. So i might try the 3rd now that i got it for free but ehh. But i do remember enjoying the first one, i wonder if i'd feel the same way if i played it today? Better not taint those memories lol

ANIALATOR136845d ago

I was the same for some reason. Never finished the second one. I got like half way through maybe.

ActualWhiteMan844d ago (Edited 844d ago )

The first one of the latest trilogy is a masterpiece

Fishy Fingers845d ago

I'll take a copy of Shadow... Cheers.

Profchaos845d ago

Great games I've played them all on ps4 but it'll be good to finally try shadow on my rtx card.

Double_O_Revan845d ago

Trying to claim them and the store keeps crashing. lol.

gamefreaks365845d ago

EGS has been having issues all day.

RedDevils845d ago

Weird I don't has that issue.

Double_O_Revan845d ago

I finally got it after a while. But it was real bad for a while.

PeeShuter845d ago (Edited 845d ago )

Claim games by going to the website and login using ur credentials. I did the same as i couldnt use epic launcher. Also try reinstalling Epic Launcher I did it and it worked.

Double_O_Revan845d ago

I always go through the website. It was all just down for a while yesterday it seems.

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