470°

Square Enix And Crystal Dynamics Announce Rise of the Tomb Raider Release Date For PC

Following Rise of the Tomb Raider’s highly successful release exclusively for Xbox One and Xbox 360, Square Enix® today announced that the game will be available for Windows 10 and Steam on January 28, 2016.

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press.na.square-enix.com
UltraNova3458d ago

So this basically means the PC port was ready alongside the Xb1 and xbox360 versions...I thought that they would use the one year exclusivity to finalize/polish the other 2 versions.

They developed and released the game of such quality on 3 platforms in less than 3 years! That says a lot about CD's dev prowess, unfortunately it doesn't say lot about their marketing/release decisions...

bf0007779663458d ago (Edited 3458d ago )

I dont think MS paid that much for only a two- month exclusivity.

thekhurg3458d ago

They paid to keep it off ps4, having it on PC doesn't affect them as badly.

miyamoto3457d ago

After the disaster on XB1 it's only reasonable SE follow up quickly on the PC while the iron is hot.
I'm sure there are quotas were not met by the XB1.
So SE needed to act fast.
That is damage control done right.

3457d ago
stoney1013457d ago

@miyamoto and elektranine

What the are you on about!?
Did you miss this article yesterday - http://n4g.com/news/1845185...

or are you just choosing to ignore it

Cindy-rella3457d ago

The ps4 version will be very polished on release and thats when ill buy this game.

3457d ago
Freedomland3457d ago

@dastar101

One million is not enough for a combined sales of xboxone and 360. Most of the people have the misconception that this is only for xbox 1 but it's not.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 3457d ago
dirkdady3458d ago

Those specs aren't that bad my pc should be able to run it without s prob. Only 25gb space required? Interesting to see after modern games taking up 50gbs.

Zero1093458d ago

It's a cross platform game. It was developed with the 360 in mind. MGSV is about 28gb I believe.

Letthewookiewin3458d ago

I bet the PS4 port is already complete also. When it was initially announced, it was for all systems I believe, which would mean they had already started development on it.

bf0007779663458d ago

it will only be a more polished one when it comes out with better AA and post processing, stabler frame rate and free of bugs. And it will include all the previous DLCs with reduced price. We call this definity edition.

rdgneoz33458d ago

@bf000777966 Hopefully it comes with all the DLC, else you're going to piss off the fans that bought the reboot to begin with (TR reboot sold more on PS4 than xbone) even more.

_-EDMIX-_3457d ago

I don't think it was ported so much as made concurrently.

The deal was likely only to hold off from releasing the PS4 version, I doubt it was to not work on the PS4 version at all as that doesn't really make any sense.

Seafort3458d ago

The PC version was always going to be released in early 2016.

It's the PS4 version that is taking the brunt of Microsoft's exclusivity stunt.

MS wanted to deny Sony Tomb Raider for a year and they did. Any sales they got for RotTR is a bonus for MS.

yomfweeee3458d ago

Every sale for the game is a bonus for MS? People would have still bought the game on X1 if it was released on both systems. The only bonus sales are the ones who own multiple systems and would have bought the game on a different platform... which is probably very few.

Seafort3458d ago

@yomfweeee

I'm buying it on a different platform.

Square-Enix are the publishers for the PC version not Microsoft so MS get jack shit from PC sales.

Christopher3458d ago

***So this basically means the PC port was ready alongside the Xb1 and xbox360 versions...I thought that they would use the one year exclusivity to finalize/polish the other 2 versions.***

Umm... not to be too rude, but what system do you think they develop the game on in the first place? Of course PC was ready alongside the XB1 and 360 versions. It's what they built the whole game around and then used whatever internal tools and coding to port it to the other platforms.

UltraNova3458d ago

Yet we see time and time again PC users complaining all over the forums about shoddy PC console ports...

Not to be rude either but you might be wrong.

Christopher3458d ago (Edited 3458d ago )

You guys are right. They code this things right on console hardware. You got C programmers entering in code, line by line, using the XBO controller, level designers entering in hook elements and adjusting terrain and foliage elements from their XBO.

The shoddy performance of PC games just shows how they focus on delivering a console specific port. But, every game is designed, developed, and coded on a PC. So, to say "I guess they were designing it in parallel" is kind of a no-brainer. Of course it was. Is it "perfect"? No, but it's obviously already had the mass majority of work done and now all they need to do is to get it to work across the different hardware differences and adjust settings to allow for more control over various elements. Something you can easily do in two to three months when the entirety of the game other than that is already programmed for PC.

But, PC is done in parallel with these titles. To do otherwise is just stupid when it's going to go to PC in the first place.

To think otherwise? That's just ridiculous.

Strange_Evil3458d ago

Wow... Do you really know what a SDK is? Do you understand what it means to code within a console SDK? Coding a game on a PC doesn't mean that the game will just run on any PC out there. Yes, with the DX12 it makes it easy to port the games from a console to PC, but you still have a lot different architecture to deal with.

Xbox One uses ESRAM and uses a different method of handling things than a traditional PC would handle. You need to change a lot of logic to handle it. It is not as simple as flipping a switch and voila everything works. If that were the case, then you wouldn't see AAA games like Batman and Assassins' Creed struggling on the PC.

Just because I develop my iOS app on a Mac doesn't mean that the app will automatically work with the Mac. I use the iOS SDK for it and it uses its touchscreen libraries to handle things like force touch, multi-touch etc. It is the same logic in this case. You cannot just slap something in a VM and call it a day. This isn't the PS1 era.

Going back to the argument, I am pretty sure they had teams working on both. Hell, I am pretty sure even the PS4 version must be nearly finished. MS had a deal for holiday 2015 to push people to buy the XOne.

Christopher3458d ago (Edited 3458d ago )

***Wow... Do you really know what a SDK is?***

Yes, and has no bearing here. Any major company that does multi-platform games will utilize an in-house engine or a third-party one that handles much of the work between SDKs of PC and consoles, allowing them to develop the majority of the game across multiple platforms at once and allowing them to do spot work based on platform during the development process.

***Xbox One uses ESRAM and uses a different method of handling things than a traditional PC would handle. ***

And that obviously means that they, because they are a stupid development company, only focused on the XBO the whole last 2 years when it came to managing memory or other elements? No, see above. Tweaks are made from one system to another, but they develop for multiple platforms from the get-go.

***Just because I develop my iOS app on a Mac doesn't mean that the app will automatically work with the Mac***

No one said it would. But, if you were developing the game to run on iOS and Mac, you sure as hell would utilize a system that does most of the work between the two for you while allowing you additional control on both and allowing you to utilize both in parallel for a much faster process overall rather than just doing iOS and then going back and redoing so much more work for Mac.

The fact is, they obviously work in parallel because it's easy and not a waste of time to do that now. My statement was that alone. To think otherwise from a major development studio who works on multiplatform games and has shown many times before various engines that allow them to work on multiple platforms at once... Well, sorry, but that's just how game development works. If you're going to go multiplatform from the get go, you don't just ignore all that other stuff until you're done with the first one, you work on all you can during the process so you don't run into issues down the road and to save you a ton of development time.

After all, what development company wants to increase development costs by increasing the time it takes to do something after the fact when it would take them almost no time to do it from the get-go?

rdgneoz33458d ago

"***Wow... Do you really know what a SDK is?***

Yes, and has no bearing here. Any major company that does multi-platform games will utilize an in-house engine or a third-party one that handles much of the work between SDKs of PC and consoles, allowing them to develop the majority of the game across multiple platforms at once and allowing them to do spot work based on platform during the development process."

Arkham Knight says hello...

Christopher3458d ago

***Arkham Knight says hello...***

One really shitty dev job says what? They did a shitty job. That is all.

rainslacker3457d ago (Edited 3457d ago )

It was a quick build to the PC, but the X1 got all the optimization. Hopefully CD spent the last couple months optimizing the PC version, since it will have different nuances to cater to in the optimization field.

Kind of hard to explain what happens in the last bit of the optimization phase which makes it different between a console release(particularly one using DX) and a PC release...it just is different, and not as simple as clicking "build to X platform".

The base of the game will remain unchanged...all those algorithms which handle what is going on like when you press jump the character jumps, but how it's displayed, and executed can change quite a bit between a console and PC port. A lot of this is handled by engines, but relying on built in base builds is not ideal in most cases, and PC's still need a lot of testing and optimization. With consoles, it's typically more about trying to tweak out that last bit of power, and refining functions to be more efficient.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 3457d ago
freshslicepizza3458d ago

there are actually quite a few games on the pc that get released a few months after they arrive on consoles. the latest assassins creed is one example and it was a month delay.

http://www.cinemablend.com/...

so i am not sure what it is you are getting at. the consoles are very much like a pc, it wouldn't take much time at all. phil spencer already commented on shovel knight taking just one day to port from pc to xbox one.

http://rectifygaming.com/sh...

Christopher3458d ago

To be honest, the whole "PC delay" thing is typically to push consoles sales since the publisher makes much more money off of that than PC sales.

_-EDMIX-_3457d ago

lol Why? The deal was merely to hold off from releasing it, I doubt it was to not develop it as all.

Also I don't think CD did all 3 or 4 versions, MOST times on cross gen or multiplatforms games, 1 team isn't just making 4 versions lol.

I'm not knocking the team, but legit learn who is making all the versions before assuming CD just did 3 or 4 versions, Square likely had some of their other teams working on Tomb Raider when bringing it to other platforms.

UKmilitia3457d ago

yep and i will torrent it,then buy it on ps4

starchild3456d ago

Well aren't you an awesome upstanding fanboy. We can see where your priorities lie.

UKmilitia3456d ago

@starchild well i have ps4,xb1,xb360,pc,wii.

the reason iwont buy is because i want this practice to stop.
Tomb raider being how it was and then MS jumping in with money was wrong and even if its just my sale i dont want it to be on pc or xb1.

The_BlackHeart__3457d ago

@dastar101 - Those are 360 + XB1 sales combined. Tomb Raider is not developed as an "OK" game to simply sell OK. By the way, for the publisher even 2 millions could have been a disaster. http://www.kotaku.com.au/20...

+ Show (6) more repliesLast reply 3456d ago
YinYangGaming3458d ago

Good news for PC gamers and good news for Square, should increase sales for the game quite a bit been seeing a lot of enthusiasm from PC gamers for ROTR

FasterThanFTL13458d ago (Edited 3458d ago )

PC Minimum Specifications:

⦁ Minimum OS: Windows 7 64bit

⦁ Processor: Intel Core i3-2100 or AMD equivalent

⦁ GPU: NVIDIA GTX 650 2GB or AMD HD7770 2GB

⦁ RAM: 6GB

⦁ HD Space: 25GB

⦁ DirectX: DirectX 11

⦁ Input: Mouse + Keyboard

4k/60fps here I come.

kayoss3458d ago (Edited 3458d ago )

Are those for reals? If they are, my PC is not even qualified.
I only use my PC for photography so i never really upgraded it. My Laptop will run this game.

Christopher3458d ago

You need to upgrade that PC, these are pretty barebones minimum requirements for a game put out in 2015. Or just move over to gaming on your laptop ;)

rainslacker3457d ago

I'm actually good, but just squeaked by on the GPU. That's what I have...it's served me well over the years though, since about all I really play is WOW and SimCity. I'm well overspec'd on the other stuff though. Suppose I'll pick it up for X1, or just wait for the PS4 version.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3457d ago
JamesBroski3458d ago

I thought it was 6 months after the Xbox One release?

ThePope3458d ago

It was always going to release early 2016

Christopher3458d ago

That was a Greenberg statement and was never confirmed. I made this mistake a month ago as well. He was talking more as a "concept" and not direct data. It was always officially "early 2016" pc release without a set month/date.

JamesBroski3458d ago

Thanks, and is the 1 year PS4 release confirmed or we still don't know?

Christopher3458d ago

All we know is Holiday 2016. So, it could be as early as October sine it's usually the last 3 months of the year that they consider "Holiday".

Free_Fro3458d ago (Edited 3458d ago )

Holiday 2015 - XO

Early 2016 - PC

Holiday 2016 - PS4

--

I wouldn't give you a release date for the other platforms either If I wanted to sell you the XO/360 version.

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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
jznrpg779d ago (Edited 779d 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
isarai893d ago (Edited 893d 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_Darkness891d 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...

DeathTouch891d 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.

thesoftware730891d 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.

SoulWarrior891d ago (Edited 891d 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.

-Foxtrot892d 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.

Tacoboto891d 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.

SoulWarrior892d 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_B891d ago

No. Please forget the crap completely.

northpaws891d 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.

thesoftware730891d 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.

Starman69891d 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
CrimsonWing691272d ago (Edited 1272d 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.

lelo2play1272d ago (Edited 1272d 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.

LiViNgLeGaCY1272d ago

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

CrimsonWing691271d ago

I meant the first of the new trilogy.

Furesis1271d 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

ANIALATOR1361271d ago

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

ActualWhiteMan1271d ago (Edited 1271d ago )

The first one of the latest trilogy is a masterpiece

Fishy Fingers1272d ago

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

Profchaos1272d 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_Revan1272d ago

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

gamefreaks3651272d ago

EGS has been having issues all day.

RedDevils1271d ago

Weird I don't has that issue.

Double_O_Revan1271d ago

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

PeeShuter1271d ago (Edited 1271d 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_Revan1271d ago

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

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