Rise of the Tomb Raider - Xbox One/360 2015 timed exclusive Out Nov 10th

[partridge]

Until now its been possible to pre order on all formats. It will be interesting to see what happens to those orders now. Especially if money has been put down upfront.

As recently as E3 this was still seen as an all formats game. It stinks and I hope it's true that this just a timed exclusive.

[Elandyll]

Ok...
There's being legitimately pissed off (which is warranted here), and then there's Completely Over the Top (internet petitions among other things, which achieves nothing)


And then ... this (if taken seriously)



Now if you want the message heard, email/ tweet to Crystal Dynamics, and vote with your wallet. But I have the feeling things will just go downwards from here (the CD forums and tweeter are exploding since this morning).

[ariakon]

Uggh, while I understand this decision from MS's viewpoint, what does CD gain from it? Tomb Raider sold quite a bit better on PS systems than on Xbox. If this isn't a timed exclusive, this really is a way of shortchanging the consumers that supported the franchise in the past. Why limit your target audience? Does MS really just fork over tons of cash? Because it feels like companies are awfully short-sighted with these deals, taking immediate money over building wide-ranging franchises.

[varmintx]

Someone at IGN said people were attacking the poor voice actress over it on her twitter account. I mean, I'm not going to lie, I'm pissed off, but that's a level of stupid no amount of hate can justify.

[ariakon]

Originally Posted by varmintx

Someone at IGN said people were attacking the poor voice actress over it on her twitter account. I mean, I'm not going to lie, I'm pissed off, but that's a level of stupid no amount of hate can justify.

True that, and aside from being incredibly prickish, it's just stupid (as you said). What did she have to with anything? It's just a game, peoples.


I have to admit, I was kind of expecting MS to sop up a good franchise, but I was also certain it would be one from EA, not one that reaches to a PS audience like TR.

[Danchez]

No matter how frustrated you might become, there's always some morons out there who will go too far and put things back in perspective.

[KRW1]

Originally Posted by Blu-Generation

Thanks.

This opens a wider perspective on my point. That's a lot of potential customers.

It's crazy, isn't it! I mean, I can sort of see the business sense if MS is paying a lot up front, but that's a lot of potential lost sales.

[Blu-Generation]

But this is also quite the gamble on MS part. Do they not expect the system to sale by Winter 2015? It's a long way to go for this investment.

[Blu-Dragon]

You know one of the funny things about people complaining about this deal is that Sony did the same thing with this exact same franchise. Sony paid to not have Tomb Raider 2 appear on the Sega Saturn.
Strange that people seem to forget that and it was fine when Sony did it but not MS.

While the original Tomb Raider was released on both the PlayStation and Sega Saturn game consoles, Tomb Raider II was no longer designed for the Sega Saturn despite having been confirmed as a target platform for the game in the first place. Following the cancellation announcement, Adrian Smith cited technical limitations of the console to program an adequate conversion.[8] In September 1997, Sony Computer Entertainment America signed a deal with Eidos to make console releases for the Tomb Raider franchise exclusive to the PlayStation, preventing the Sega Saturn or the Nintendo 64 from having any Tomb Raider game released for it until 2000, a deal that would prove very beneficial to Sony both in terms of revenue dollars and also in further cementing the PlayStation's growing reputation as the go-to system for must-have exclusive titles.[9]

[Blu-Generation]

Originally Posted by Blu-Dragon

You know one of the funny things about people complaining about this deal is that Sony did the same thing with this exact same franchise. Sony paid to not have Tomb Raider 2 appear on the Sega Saturn.
Strange that people seem to forget that and it was fine when Sony did it but not MS.

The way I see it now, If any side do it, it's just as bad.

That said, will this benefit MS? I wonder which party has more to lose.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by ithrowawayslipcovers

Yes while all that is true, i only brought up those three cause those were the first games i could think of. The situations are obviously different.

Though i would be shocked if the outcry would be the same if Tomb Raider was announced as a PS4 exclusive.

Mmmmno.

Dead Rising as a XB1 exclusive generally didn't get eviscerated despite DR2 appearing on the PS3 because Microsoft funded it.

Scalebound as an XB1 exclusive didn't get eviscerated because Microsoft funded it.

Bayonetta 2 exists because Nintendo funded it.

But if you're going to try to tell me Rise of the Tomb Raider wouldn't exist without Microsoft's presence, I will laugh at you. The last game sold upwards of 6M.

We know from existing known sales numbers that multiplatform titles generally sell proportional to the install base (which you'd expect), unless there's marketing interference in a case like Watch_Dogs, where Sony pushed hard for mindshare and won a majority of the sales as a consequence.

As I posted above, though, let's see what sort of/timed exclusivity is under consideration here. A couple months and most people won't care. 6 months would be a problem. Permanent exclusivity would be disastrous for the brand.

[ariakon]

I think the thing that has most of us baffled is not that MS wants exclusives (of course they do) it's that the publishers were willing to sell a franchise that sells best on the Playstation. Had this been Star Wars Battlefront, there still would have been anger, but not this sense of hey, thanks for supporting us and making our game a success, but... It feels like we all took Lara to the prom after years of courtship, and she dumped us mid-dance for the kid with the rich parents (and for the love of God, no, I don't mean that literally).

[varmintx]

Originally Posted by Blu-Dragon

Strange that people seem to forget that and it was fine when Sony did it but not MS.

Strange that you seem to think that:
1. People actually remember that
2. Those that do thought it was "fine" then or now

[ithrowawayslipcovers]

Originally Posted by Icemage

Mmmmno.

Dead Rising as a XB1 exclusive generally didn't get eviscerated despite DR2 appearing on the PS3 because Microsoft funded it.

Scalebound as an XB1 exclusive didn't get eviscerated because Microsoft funded it.

Bayonetta 2 exists because Nintendo funded it.

But if you're going to try to tell me Rise of the Tomb Raider wouldn't exist without Microsoft's presence, I will laugh at you. The last game sold upwards of 6M.

We know from existing known sales numbers that multiplatform titles generally sell proportional to the install base (which you'd expect), unless there's marketing interference in a case like Watch_Dogs, where Sony pushed hard for mindshare and won a majority of the sales as a consequence.

As I posted above, though, let's see what sort of/timed exclusivity is under consideration here. A couple months and most people won't care. 6 months would be a problem. Permanent exclusivity would be disastrous for the brand.

Never said it wouldnt get made without Microsofts presence. All i said was we dont know why its a Microsoft exclusive or what Microsoft did to get it. Could be anything, maybe they wanted Conker to appear and this was the only way?

[xXI GaMe IXx]

Originally Posted by Elandyll

Ok...
There's being legitimately pissed off (which is warranted here), and then there's Completely Over the Top (internet petitions among other things, which achieves nothing)


And then ... this (if taken seriously)



Now if you want the message heard, email/ tweet to Crystal Dynamics, and vote with your wallet. But I have the feeling things will just go downwards from here (the CD forums and tweeter are exploding since this morning).

How would voting with your wallet work if you cant buy the game anyways?

[xXI GaMe IXx]

All I can say is I'm glad I have both consoles

[jsteinhauer]

Originally Posted by varmintx

Someone at IGN said people were attacking the poor voice actress over it on her twitter account. I mean, I'm not going to lie, I'm pissed off, but that's a level of stupid no amount of hate can justify.

It's actually sort of surprising that the actors have to allow it to happen. I would have thought they have royalties in their contracts, and the lost sales will negatively impact their gross cut.

Originally Posted by Icemage

6 months would be a problem. Permanent exclusivity would be disastrous for the brand.

You know, Mass Effect was successful enough on Playstation after a very long, originally permanent, period of exclusivity. It really depends on the timing.

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by jsteinhauer

It's actually sort of surprising that the actors have to allow it to happen. I would have thought they have royalties in their contracts, and the lost sales will negatively impact their gross cut.

Who knows... I doubt the actors have any say in what platforms their work appears on, so at most they might mildly protest.

You know, Mass Effect was successful enough on Playstation after a very long, originally permanent, period of exclusivity. It really depends on the timing.

True, but in the case of Tomb Raider they run some risk of alienating the brand new fans who just got in via the reboot (especially the PS4 owners who just bought Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition for PS4).

This is particularly true since the title was originally announced as multiplatform, so there's no possible way to hide under "well we couldn't afford/didn't have the manpower to make 2 versions" as cover.

[ariakon]

Originally Posted by jsteinhauer

It's actually sort of surprising that the actors have to allow it to happen. I would have thought they have royalties in their contracts, and the lost sales will negatively impact their gross cut.

You know, Mass Effect was successful enough on Playstation after a very long, originally permanent, period of exclusivity. It really depends on the timing.

That was a new IP, though, this is an established franchise with a long history on Playstation. In a way, it's kind of like if Mass Effect 4 was coming exclusively to PS4, in that it is removing a franchise from the consumer base that supports it most.

[Wingman1977]

Originally Posted by xXI GaMe IXx

All I can say is I'm glad I have both consoles

You sir, win the internet.