Update (August 13): In an interview with Eurogamer, Microsoft's Phil Spencer clairified that the Tomb Raider deal is a timed exclusive, though he wouldn't comment on the precise length of the deal. "Obviously the deal does have a duration. I didn't buy the IP in perpetuity," he said.

Spencer also said that the game will be coming to Xbox 360 as well as Xbox One.

Original story: Since its start in 1996, the Tomb Raider series has been proudly platform agnostic, launching on PlayStation, PC, and Sega Saturn back in the day. So it came as some surprise this morning when Microsoft announced that Rise of the Tomb Raider will be coming exclusively to Xbox One in time for the 2015 holiday season.

"Our friends at Microsoft have always seen huge potential in Tomb Raider and have believed in our vision since our first unveil with them on their stage at E3 2011," developer Crystal Dynamics wrote in a blog post accompanying the announcement at Microsoft's Gamescom press briefing. "We know they will get behind this game more than any support we have had from them in the past—we believe this will be a step to really forging the Tomb Raider brand as one of the biggest in gaming, with the help, belief and backing of a major partner like Microsoft."

The wording of the announcement left it a bit unclear if the exclusivity will be time-limited, allowing for other consoles and PC players to get in on the game later. Crystal Dynamics did point out that other Tomb Raider games, such as this year's Temple of Osiris, will not be exclusive to any platform.

Rise of the Tomb Raider was first announced at Microsoft's E3 press conference in June, with a trailer that focused on a Lara Croft struggling to cope with the psychological stress of her traumatic early adventures.

First-month sales of last year's reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise did not initially meet Square Enix's expectations, with 3.4 million copies sold. However, the game went on to sell nearly 6 million copies after a year on the market, exceeding profit expectations.

Elsewhere in its Gamescom press briefing, Microsoft announced the first Xbox One console with a 1TB hard drive. The system will come first in a bundle with a download code for Call of Duty: Advance Warfare and a custom-designed controller for $500 on November 3. Microsoft also confirmed earlier rumors of a white Xbox console, which will come bundled with Sunset Overdrive on October 28 for $400.

The conference also included footage of a number of independent games that will see their first console release on Xbox One, including time-bending shooter Superhot, stylish dungeon crawler Below and interstellar sandbox game Space Engineers.

Microsoft's announcements come as Microsoft continues to attempt to differentiate the Xbox One from Sony's PlayStation 4, which has been selling somewhat better worldwide.