Reasons behind Tomb Raider’s Timed Exclusivity with Microsoft’s Xbox

This is an age old topic by now. When the upcoming Rise of the Tomb Raider was announced as an Xbox exclusive initially it caused an uproar among gamers everywhere.

Of course, we knew that it was never going to be a true exclusive. The Tomb Raider franchise wasn’t meant to be one…it was just going to be a timed exclusive which has been proved with recent announcements; Rise of the Tomb Raider will be released on the 10th of November for Xbox One and Xbox 360 while it is slated for a 2016 release on the PlayStation 4 and PC without a concrete release date. Better late than never right? 

But why though? Why the need for exclusivity, timed or otherwise? A recent interview between Gameinformer and Phil Rogers, the president of Square Enix America and Europe may shed some light to it. 

As it turns out, getting support for the reboot of Tomb Raider hadn’t been an easy task. “We took it in a very fresh direction.” Rogers informed Gameinformer. “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.”

He goes on to say “One big group that we always felt helped us was Microsoft. They’ve been close friends of Tomb Raider since the reboot and reimagining of where we could take Lara Croft and Tomb Raider.” 

So…basically Microsoft offered their support in the new direction this reboot was taking while no one else did? While this statement may not be enough to appease all of us we’re going to have to take the word for it. At least we know those of us who do not own an Xbox console will still be able to play Rise of the Tomb Raider…albeit a little later.