Square Enix talks Tomb Raider Xbox exclusivity

Square Enix made the somewhat controversial decision to give Microsoft a timed exclusive deal on Rise of the Tomb Raider, the sequel to the highly rated 2013 Tomb Raider reboot. The publisher has faced quite a bit of criticism from fans over this but it seems that it was all expected.

As we now know, Xbox gamers will have Rise of the Tomb Raider at least a full year before PlayStation owners, while PC gamers will also have the game much earlier on in 2016. According to Square Enix's Phil Rogers, this deal was not made lightly.

In an interview with Examiner, Rogers said: “I hope fans know it wasn't an easy decision, I think any sort of partnership at this level is a decision that took a long time for us to get to. The decision at a studio level, we took very, very seriously. We knew it would, in short-term, disappoint fans”.

We do know that Microsoft is co-publishing Rise of the Tomb Raider, so it has quite a bit of financial investment in the game. Obviously this played a big role in Square Enix's decision to take the deal: “We’re about growing our IP, this is a long-term decision. We’re going to take Tomb Raider up to the next level. With Microsoft’s belief, passion and sort of muscle to help us deliver, we really think this is going to be an awesome game that people will enjoy for years and years to come.”

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KitGuru Says: Rise of the Tomb Raider's Microsoft exclusivity is a pretty big blow to PlayStation gamers. That said, Sony has been very aggressive with its content exclusivity deals so far this generation as well. We still don't know when the game will land on the PC but fortunately, it will ‘early 2016', rather than ‘holiday 2016'. 

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