Microsoft's support of Tomb Raider reboot led to sequel's exclusive, Square Enix says

Rogers, the CEO of Square Enix in the Americas and Europe, suggested to Game Informer that the direction of developer Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider reboot was a contentious issue within Square Enix.

"I'm not saying it split the company, but in many ways when you're trying to reboot a franchise that's got the history of Tomb Raider, it does divide opinion," Rogers told Game Informer. "We took it in a very fresh direction. I think that at the end of the day, the accolades that we got with Tomb Raider (2013) were great. At the time, not everyone felt that way."

Microsoft has "been close friends of Tomb Raider since the reboot," said Rogers. "So, the evolution of this relationship deepening with the timed exclusive is a very natural one for us, but a tough decision."

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

The explanation doesn't make much sense:

"It was a big decision for us," Rogers says. "The reboot of Tomb Raider was a fascinating journey for us. I'm not saying it split the company, but in many ways when you're trying to reboot a franchise that's got the history of Tomb Raider, it does divide opinion. We took it in a very fresh direction. I think that at the end of the day, the accolades that we got with Tomb Raider (2013) were great. At the time, not everyone felt that way."

It turns out that Microsoft's support of this new vision for the classic franchise played a part in the timed exclusivity. "One big group that we always felt helped us was Microsoft," Rogers says. "They've been close friends of Tomb Raider since the reboot and reimagining of where we could take Lara Croft and Tomb Raider. So, the evolution of this relationship deepening with the timed exclusive is a very natural one for us, but a tough decision."

Especially when sales numbers for the Tomb Raider reboot were actually better on the PS4 and PS3.
http://www.vgchartz.com/gam...

PS3 - 2.43 million
PS4 - .93 million
Xbox One - .35 million
Xbox 360 - 1.86

VGChartz was the only source I could find for console totals, but clearly, the sales numbers are skewed towards Playstation platforms.

[nX]

It doesn't need to make sense, they got a truckload of money for it and the PS4 version was delayed by a year. The fact that they're still trying to explain it as some kind of miraculous partnership is kinda funny though.

From a logical perspective, judging by sales of the previous game and the history of Tomb Raider, this would've actually been a Playstation exclusive lol

[Tedakin]

Maybe Sony didn't offer them anything to make it PS4 exclusive......

[bouzebbal]

in other terms, MS pay for the marketing campaign against getting a year of exclusivity. Not bad but i would prefer a Dragon Quest (full exclusivity), FF7 remake(timed?) or NieR 2(full exclusivity) instead.

[Ezz2013]

All of this is just bad PR to me
and not helping them at all.

[Gazondaily]

Yup it all boils down to money. That's money hatting for you and everyone does it. Still a crappy facet of this industry.

[UltraNova]

SE tries too hard to justify their decision.

Maybe its time they learned that if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all.

[DeadlyFire]

Maybe they just feel exclusivity will boast its sales on Xbox to match the sales on PS platforms.

[XisThatKid]

Saving face are we. Good for you.

[dcbronco]

Gamers need to get over themselves. They refuse to accept price increases. But want developers to do more and to take risk. They align themselves with companies instead of supporting good work regardless of who makes it. We've seen so many developers go out of business and quickly latch on to the idea that it was all because of poor management.

These are the ideas of children, not adults with responsibilities. Prices have gone up drastically since 2005 on most things. While salaries have gone down. Except in high demand fields. Programming is one of those high demand fields. So while their cost went up, you expect to pay the same. Add a new generation of consoles and the learning curve involved and that increases cost.

That will change as the generation moves on. And because of similar architectures and the ability to use the same code for Xbox and PC. But gamers need to understand developers will need additional income. Whether that's Microsoft paying for an advertising campaign or development costs or micro transactions. But gamers need to understand these are companies and they need income. Putting negative connotations on things like moneyhatting in a field like gaming where people latch onto the most ridiculous things forever is unhealthy for the industry.

I like physical copies. Especially when collectors additions come in those beautiful metal cases. Perfect Dark is still my favorite Xbox 360 case. But we have to accept digital, price increases, micro transactions or something. People are more than willing to accept a 40-50% increase in movie prices over the last decade but refuse to budge on games. Once you buy the bluray you've paid almost $30 for a two hour movie to watch over and over but won't spend $70 for a game that gives you 200 hours of unique fun.

I know a lot of people here get it. But far too many gamers don't. The ones that don't are destroying gaming.

[gangsta_red]

At this point it doesn't matter how much proof of MS actually helping with marketing and publishing for TR or what Square actually says repeatedly.

For some reason this particular deal is bad for the industry.

[LAWSON72]

Well you don't make sense, that quote says MS help support Tomb Raider, none of that has anything to with total sale numbers differences between consoles. Perhaps use your brain instead of call something nonsense and post sales figures that have literally nothing to with your quote, maybe things would become clear.

Disagree all you want just shows you can't read or lack comprehension skills because nothing in that quote is even remotely confusing.

No where in that quote says anything about how the user base is much larger and supporting on Xbox platforms rather MS has showed support and interest in the reboot since it started. Simple as that there is no inbetween the lines or stuff that does not make sense.

[fei-hung]

Agreed, but SE also needs to stop waffling and pissing about. The constant pr or crappy excuses isn't doing them any favors. Just say they financially supported the TR sequel. Making it sound like MS was a cheerleader shouting on support and sending motivational cards sounds just as pathetic if not more than most the comments on forums.

[Wh15ky]

It's just PR bullcrap, learn to read between the lines buddy.

[Wh15ky]

"Simple as that there is no inbetween the lines"

Ahhh, ignorance is bliss... There's always something between the lines.

[RIP_Weazel]

@LAWSON72
...rather than bandy around insults and derogatory terms, perhaps try contributing to the conversation by suggesting what this 'partnership' consisted of. It's so easy to be cynical when all we've got to go on is the twisty PR speak of company execs trying to pour oil on the water!

[ScorpiusX]

If I could I would give you 2.4 million bubbles. Here the one bubble allowed .

[WelkinCole]

Which makes things look worse for them.

It makes it seems like they were offended that Sony didn't grovel at their mighty feet but only MS kissed theirs and such allowed emotions, egos to win over common sense.

Common sense is you don't delay a game that already didn't sell to exceptions in previous iteration for a year on the platform that got you the most sales.

So because Sony didn't kiss their ass they instead shafted their loyal fanbase on the PS because of it to get back to Sony?. How fu*king childish.

I rather them be a man and just say they were paid millions to delay it on the PS. That's all instead of this bullcrap that is really insulting to peoples intelligence.

[Kiwi66]

So it sounds like maybe sony didn't give them the support that ms did for the reboot thats why they went with ms first and not because of sales numbers

[TKCMuzzer]

Come on people, it's all PR. At the end of the day it's a business, sales do matter and the only way they would not is if someone had dumped some cash in front of them.
This is all damage control.

[slasaru01]

Vgcharts, oh yeah?

[Mr_Writer85]

Lets face it, the biggest reason MS threw money at SE was because they needed a title to rival Uncharted.

SE are not stupid enough to make it an exclusive, but smart enough to take the money for a timed.

That way (at the time before UC4 change of date) they wouldn't be going head to head on PS4 against UC4.

They do however get the same sales they would on X1 (maybe more with UC4 being pushed back), a truck load of money, and then next year launch on PS4 and maybe catch all those gamers who would of picked UC4 over TR, but with UC4 already out months before will most likely buy TR as well.

At the end of the day no one loses out, and MS where close to pulling off a very clever move, but since UC4's moved date, it does seem a little waste of money.

SE don't really lose out as they will have banked the MS money, it might not match the number they would of made in sales on PS4, but they could still get that next year, AND have the MS money, and MS sales money.

[AsheXII]

You're trying too hard, support (financially or otherwise) have nothing to do with sales on that platform.

[Jayszen]

Igivehugstonakedwomen - Of course the explanation does not make sense. How can it when more Playstation players supported the reboot as well as the 'Tomb Raider' franchise right from the days of PS1? It is as though Sony and PS4 gamers said "We do not like this new vision, even if more of us bought the game than Xbox gamers". What a load of crock! Rogers says that Microsoft have been close friends of Tomb Raider since the reboot but conveniently forgets how Sony and Playstation gamers have supported 'Tomb Raider' since the 90's - some loyalty. What he should have said was "Microsoft became interested in the reboot as it does not have an IP that can challenge 'Uncharted' and they do not want to create and develop their own IP but rather are willing to pay us a tanker full of cash to withold it from the best selling console this generation, and the moneygrabbers we are, we agreed."

Maybe SE offocials should shut up because with each further comment they make to justify the timed exclusivity, they are appear as stupid as their justifications.

In fact when time comes SE wants to release the game on the PS4, I hope Mr. Yoshida says to Mr. Rogers. "Thank you for releasing the game at last on the PS4. As regards your request for marketing support, we have to decline as we have decided to fully commit our budget to those third party games and devs who have shown us passion for our console."

[Aceman18]

Even if MS helped the game in some way I still ended up playing it on my PS3 just like I'll be playing this one on my PS4 next year. I can wait to play it, I'll have a lot of games to play this fall/winter.

[Seafort]

PC - ~3.25 Million

Source Steamspy - http://steamspy.com/app/203...

And PC gamers are supposedly all pirates :P

[starchild]

Yep, it apparently sold better on PC than any other platform. Yet some guy the other day was trying to say it sold horribly on PC.

[nosferatuzodd]

im not being bias but if you got some money from Microsoft to make a timed exclusive game don't come running trying to do damage control , be a man and say guys the money was good and move on forget about it why every day you're on the internet still oh its because of this oh its because of that seriously, i hope this game bombed on xbox and when they release it on ps4 it bombed has well no one should buy this crap of a games

[medman]

I won't be buying Lara's adventure this time around. Square spit in my face....screw em'. I liked the reboot very much, but waiting a year for this version? No thanks, I'll have moved on to other games by then. The only way I would even consider buying it in 2016 is if it was a definitive edition and was priced at 29.99. But there is no way I will pay full price for a year old game. Sorry Square. You blew it big time with many fans of the reboot.

[PhoenixUp]

The original reboot sold better on PlayStation platforms. If anything the sequel should've logically been a timed exclusive on PS3 and PS4 for that reason alone. Microsoft however clearly jumped at the chance because they were worried about Uncharted 4 being a huge force against them in holiday 2015, and they didn't think Halo 5 alone was enough to give X1 a fighting chance against PS4.

[littlezizu]

Square Enix America made stupid decision that they are trying to justify. Thank God Square Enix japan made up for it giving PS4 owners DQ heroes 1, 2, DQ11, DQ builder, Nier 2 and Megaton FF7.

[WellyUK]

Didn't they say a while back that they may not even do another Tomb Raider as it didn't really make a profit, all MS really did was supply what was needed to get the next game off the ground.

You never know MS may of saved Tomb Raider from being put on the shelf and forgotten about.

Doesn't really matter any way as everyone gets it eventually so there is nothing really to moan about and without MS you may never of seen TR again.

[Haru]

True The Uncharted serie gained a lot of ground in the last few years, while Uncharted was gaining new grounds and new fans Halo has been losing more and more ground, Now Uncharted It's a pretty big francise even bigger than Halo

[Tedakin]

It's been a year. How long are we gonna go on with the Tomb Raider Xbox timed exclusivity thing? It's coming to PS4 Dec 2016. Got it. Nothing is changing it. Move on.

[Tedakin]

People disagree. They think if they whine hard enough it WILL change it. ;)

[RiPPn]

Completely agree, it is what it is, and I'll gladly wait for the PS4 (likely definitive) version. Besides, I'll be too busy wandering the Boston wasteland to even care about raiding tombs.

[Aceman18]

I know I can wait to play it next year.

[Nightmar3Demom]

@Tedakin

You'll never get change by keeping quiet.

Showing developers, studios, and console makers that you do not agree with a certain practice is the only way they will change.

DO NOT be someone that just accepts things and move on.

[WelkinCole]

This article was published recently. People comment on it. What is your point?.

[chrisx]

"Timed Exclusive"

[Xbonewone32015]

MS support the devs.

That's why we got the amazing dragon age completely for free yesterday in the vault via ea access.

Incredible!!

[MasterCornholio]

That has more to do with Microsoft supporting the publisher then Microsoft supporting the developers.

[THC CELL]

Lol dragon age please it's good but we got rocket league for free and it's chart topping awesome game.

[WellyUK]

DA won multiple GOTY awards... Rocket league doesn't even compare.

[ScorpiusX]

Great game and awesome service .

[Nightmar3Demom]

Don't you have to pay a monthly fee for EA Access?

[DJustinUNCHAIND]

No.

You have the option of paying it yearly.

[WellyUK]

you have to pay for EA access... Therefore it's not free.

[B1uBurneR]

Is PS4 Destiny DLC timed exclusive + C.O.D extras + Street fighter 5 exclusive < Xbox Tomb Raider timed exclusive?

If not everyone from the dev to the fans on both sides should let this rest.

[triple_c]

Translation - "Our PlayStation fans that supported the reboot more than anyone else and have been buying and supporting our games since the original Tomb Raider come second. Money comes first and Microsoft gave us a truck load of money so Xbox gets it first."

[LifeInNZ]

You act like Sony never uses such tactics.

[Tedakin]

No, never. Sony was sent from God, and loves their fans, not money, not like that evil MS.

[triple_c]

That's your assumption because you have a fanboy mindset and you took what I was saying an attack towards Microsoft when it wasn't. I also never said Sony doesn't do it nor am I complaining about what Microsoft did.. I'm only pointing out that support = Microsoft gave them money to make the game timed, which is what the guy being interviewed means when he says "support" but either doesn't say or can't say.

I don't know how me translating what someone is saying equates to me painting Microsoft as "the bad guy" for doing 3rd party deals and acting like Sony never does 3rd party deals..

[WelkinCole]

He talks about the playstation fans and you talk about sony?

[WellyUK]

The reboot only started making a profit at the end of last year. The second one probably wasn't even on the cards till Microsoft showed up to back them and fund it, for all you know MS may of saved TR from being shelved for 10 years and forgotten about. People will just have to wait a year which shouldn't really bother you as there is so many great games out this year anyway.

[Aceman18]

It don't bother me none I can wait lol, I get to play both this and U4 in the same year.

[optimus]

It's really mind boggling to me that whenever microsoft strikes a deal all the sony fanatics jump on it like "well i'm sure they paid big money for it." as if sony gets all their exclusives for free...it's not always about money. Do you really think sony didn't have the money to take it for themselves?
The CEO already hinted what took place. He said not everyone agreed with the decision. Microsoft supported them with the idea of bringing laura back... This indicates to me that sony didn't think much of tomb raider given her lackluster outings in the previous generation of consoles.

Plus, they probably were more concerned with their uncharted games and tomb raider wasn't too high on their list of must-haves...Microsoft saw an opportunity here and took it. That's how you build good relationships in business. Again, "support" doesn't always have to be about money.

[FlexLuger]

Whats mind boggling to me is that we still get articles about this. We dont see any SF5 articles explaining again and again why its exclusive. why so many TR ones? people like to think this game will flop. Im not a die hard TR fan, but I loved the last one and Im getting this one in november. I think it will do well. Certainly better than SF5. Even PS fans talk about TR more than SF5. thats pretty telling.

"That's because with StreetFighter 5 they were pretty clear about its situation as an exclusive since it was first unveiled. There literally was almost no arguments over that"

cool...so the fact that I been playing it on X360 all these years...that I been playing SF games since 1992. I played them in the arcades..on the snes..bought all the saturn capcom fighting games. Bought all the Dreamcast capcom fighting games..Come to think of it, I have NEVER bought an SF game on a PS platform.And I own all versions of SF. But I guess that means nothing because we were told up front? Ok. Im not mad about it. Ill buy it on PC, in spite of the fact that I have a PS4 in my game room. I can get achievements added to my XB gamerscore for it, that way. Not happy about it but, whatevs. But I wont be giving sony my money for this game.

[MasterCornholio]

That's because with StreetFighter 5 they were pretty clear about its situation as an exclusive since it was first unveiled. There literally was almost no arguments over that.

But with TombRaider the situation was quite different. For months they communicated the situation of the games exclusivity badly which lead to a ton of arguments on whether it was coming to the PS4 or not. Luckily they came clean in the end and PlayStation fans now know that its coming to the PS4.

I'm going to pick it up myself since I enjoyed the definitive edition on my PS4. In the meantime I'll occupy myself with many other fantastic games.

People need to remember that TombRaider isn't the only game coming to the PS4 there are plenty of other games coming out before then. One of the major ones being Uncharted 4. However as a Insomniac fan I believe the reboot is a pretty big title as well.

[MasterCornholio]

"But yeah...My damn couch man! damn you sony! lol"

Well you are whining about not being able to play the game from your couch. Instead of Sony you should blame yourself for not setting up your gaming environment better.

Anyways you own an XB1 right and a Windows 10 PC? Why can't you just streak SFV to your XB1?

Of course unless you were silly enough to not set up a good network in your house you should be able to do this.

If I can deal with waiting an extra year for SFV why can't you deal with waiting for SFVI?

[FlexLuger]

"Well you are whining about not being able to play the game from your couch. Instead of Sony you should blame yourself for not setting up your gaming environment better"

Two things..

firstly I wasnt whining.note the "lol" at the end.Having more of a laugh about it...just saying. trying to lighten the mood a little. Im not gonna miss my couch that mucc, especially when I can strweam from PC to XB1 by the years end.

Secondly My gaming/entertainment PC is located in my dedicated recording studio. It shares this space with a mixing desk, two pairs of studio monitors,Three LCD screen three MIDI keyboards an akai MPC and my two fender bass guitars...oh and my actual music making PC... gaming was not exactly top of my list when I built my studio. It pays my bills after all.Its not an amusement arcade. But It would be a shame to not play the odd game on a PC that cost me just over £5000, no?

"Anyways you own an XB1 right and a Windows 10 PC? Why can't you just streak SFV to your XB1?"

Yeah, once they introduce PC to xbox streaming. it only goes Xbox to PC at the moment. At least in the preview build, im using on XB1 at the moment.

"If I can deal with waiting an extra year for SFV why can't you deal with waiting for SFVI?"

LOL, Ill be fine. Ill deal with it by playing SF5 on PC in the meantime and ill be over the lack of xbox version within a few rounds of kicking PC gamers asses on SFV. Ill take it out on them with my deadly sagat and ryu and M bison combos and rule steam's SF scene with an iron fist result. Matter of fact Im gonna beat you up on SF5 too. How dare you try to reason with me. shut up beavis! j/k ;)

No but seriously, it prolly makes life easier for PS gamers on SF5. skill like mine would have them calling me a cheater and throwing their pads at the screen. At least now they have more chance of winning online. this is good for gamers. Not so good for PC gamers who will be constant victims of my unrivaled SF skill. lol

[MasterCornholio]

Kind of like how Sony is solidifying their relationship with SquareEnix and Capcom by helping fund StrertFighter 5 and Final Fantasy 7 remake.

Like you said its all about building relationships.

[FlexLuger]

"Like you said its all about building relationships."

Indeed. and I stand by that. But what annoys me is this sense of entitlement that I see from certain PS fans. Like they are somehow morally entitled to TR. If I can accept that I cant play SF5 on the platform I have played SF games on since sega got out of the hardware biz..ever..Then why cant PS fans deal with waiting a year for TR. Its not like they will never get to play the game on their platform of choice.

Ill have to play SF5 in my music studio. I dont have a couch in there. Just my swivel chair... see the problem? And I blame sony for that, even though I cant fault them for making a smart business play. But as a result I am even less likely to buy on on their platform than before. As I said I have never bought a SF game on PS. I hate that PS D-pad for fighting games. Im not gonna turn up to every SF5 article bemoaning the game. The act of buying it on my PC with my freshly installed W10 and my 780, will suffice. I even have an XB1 controller for my PC. But yeah...My damn couch man! damn you sony! lol

[WitWolfy]

Lets be realistic here, without Sony's funding for FF7 it would've still been a dream though.

[WelkinCole]

You assume that the same fans that are complaining about this are also ok with the SF and other exclusives Sony secure are fine with those as well.

Well you are wrong. Me getting to play a 3rd party game before others does nothing for me. Real exclusives do. These stupid deals are a waste of time.

[FlexLuger]

"Me getting to play a 3rd party game before others does nothing for me. Real exclusives do. These stupid deals are a waste of time."

I can agree with this. The games I look forward to the most are exclusives. Halo 5, recore, scale bound etc on XBox and horizon, GT7 and UC4 on PS. But lets not discount the quality of the likes of SF, mass effect, witcher, fall out, elder scrolls, mirrors edge, bioshock, etc. plenty of third party games that can shine like an exclusive title. good games are good games.

But I wont lie, for me personally, not being able to play SF5 on Xbox saddens me a little. I can be honest about that. Consider my own fighting gaming history for a moment, that I mentioned in my earlier post.I played SF and all my other capcom fighting games on X360, and before that sega platforms. NEVER playstation. But that Just me. But Ill take the PC version ;). I can use my XB1 pad and streaming from PC to XBox should be available by then.I may even get my capcom X360 fighting games on BC at some point. I bought them all digitally so I dont need to get discs, just download when available. I love SF so much I could play any version of the game, I dont care. Ill even play SFA or SF3. Im a fan of the series as a whole.

[WelkinCole]

Perhaps it had something to do with it but i think this deal was struck even before the start of this gen.

Like many predicted wrong they thought that MS will lead out of the gate. Both saw an opportunity to rival Uncharted which was made clear when they rebooted the series and follow Uncharted formula more.

Miscalculations and now they are still trying to save face.

[brainfart]

Why is it so hard to comprehend that CD wanted to make TR as epic as UC so of course Sony wasn't going to finance TR,that would of cut into its sales.CD went with MS to finance the development of TR and advertisement that crap out of it.I think TR will turn out to be a bad area game,don't think it wouldn't of without MS!!!

[Marugo]

This will sell xbox one like a hotcakes, such a big lost for ps4

[kraenk12]

Like the last one did?!

PS4 - 0.93 million
Xbox One - 0.35 million
PS3 - 2.43 million
Xbox 360 - 1.86 million

[Paleblood]

Then you agree that FF7, Dragon Quest, Nier 2 and Street Fighter 5 will sell PS4 like hotcakes and is such a big lost for the xbox.

Right?

[Relientk77]

They already said this like 4 times

[Fro_xoxo]

you can squabble as much as you like ^_^.. you have to wait a year to play it. These business deals happen.. you can dig into it as much as you like, the outcome doesn't change lol.

It's me and Lara this fall :D.

[Paleblood]

Enjoy,

It's me and Fallout 4 this fall.

[vikingland1]

Enjoy,

It's me and ROTTR & Fallout this fall ;)

[Aceman18]

Yep I've no problems waiting to play it next year too many games to finish out this year for me.

[SatanicEyeJesus]

I think SE is explaining too much. The damage is already done, nothing they say until PS4's release next year will make their decision sound correct.

[saukelover12]

at end of the day its going better when it drops on PS4 because PS4 is a way better console, TEAM SONY

[MilkMan]

Every time Square-Enix opens their mouth about this all I hear Ben Franklin.

[WickedLester]

God, I am so sick of this horseshit corporate jargon! Square, stop acting like the gaming public are full of idiots....well...OK the gaming public ARE full of idiots but that still doesn't make it right when you try to bullshit everyone. The bottom line is MS has timed exclusivity because 1.) You didn't want to compete head to head with Uncharted 4 and 2.) they wrote you a big fat check, end of story!