I loved the previous Tomb Raider and I’d probably get this one on day one. But I couldn’t. Square Enix and Microsoft made a deal to release it on Xbox first and I don’t have an Xbox, nor do I want one.

The game is coming to PC in January 2016 and to PlayStation later this year. At the time of writing, the exact dates aren’t confirmed yet. There was no PC release date announcement and the official Tomb Raider website just mentions the Xbox version. PC gamers only expect the game in January because that’s the date on the Steam store.

It’s really unusual for a AAA game to hide the release date and system requirements this close to the anticipated release. Hitman (also from Square Enix), which is releasing in February, had its release date and system requirements announced in December.

update: It’s coming to PC on January 28th.

But let’s get to the main question: was that exclusivity deal good for gamers and for the Tomb Raider franchise?

The reboot

First, let’s take a look at the previous games in the series. The Metacritic scores of the pre-reboot games (Underworld, Anniversary, Legend) are all around 80, they didn’t change the Tomb Raider formula much and they weren’t huge hits. I didn’t care about those games, I didn’t play them but they were successful enough to release a new one every few years.

Then came the 2013 reboot. Since it was following the previous games, I didn’t expect much. I don’t think I’m the only one who looks at the previous games in a series when deciding what to buy. In fact, the publishers are well aware of that and Ubisoft admitted that the sales of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate suffered due to the problems with the previous game.

The Tomb Raider reboot sold better than any of the previous games and the reviews were very positive but apparently Square Enix wasn’t happy. Like many others, I bought it on Steam once the price dropped and it really exceeded my expectations.

That built a great foundation for a sequel:

A lot of work has already been done for the reboot and the big risks were already taken. People now knew what to expect and would be more likely to buy the game on day 1.

After successfully rebooting the series and releasing the best selling Tomb Raider ever, a sequel made more sense than ever before.

Announcement

Rise of the Tomb Raider was announced at E3 2014 and I was hyped. Then at Gamescom they said “coming Holiday 2015, exclusively on Xbox”. And people were cheering. Are games more fun when you know your worst enemies (anyone who bought a different console) can’t play them? I’ve never felt that way, but looks like the people attending the Gamescom conference did.

Well, I wasn’t cheering and neither were many Tomb Raider fans. I felt betrayed: the game that was always on PC was taken away from us! It was turned into hostageware for a console war we don’t care about! Even worse was their response to questions regarding the PlayStation and PC versions:

That felt really disrespectful. My reaction was: “Really? Xbox owners get the real deal and the rest of us should just play the low budget spin-off?” Tomb Raider (2013) was still installed on my PC so I opened Steam and uninstalled it.

That announcement seemed deliberately worded in a way that didn’t make it clear if the game was ever coming to PS4 and PC while Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics refused to say anything about it. After Microsoft’s Phil Spencer admitted the exclusivity was timed, everyone already assumed the game will come to other platforms later. Then they announced the PS4 and PC release anyway, so they were basically bullshitting us for nothing.

But what I find more interesting is this: why didn’t they mention the Xbox exclusivity when they first announced the game at E3? Surely, the deal was done long ago. Why hide it until Gamescom? Why hype the game only to disappoint most of the fans later? Unless, the deal wasn’t done. But that would mean the PC and PS4 versions were already far into development before the MS deal delayed them!

The money

Of course, there is no proof of that, so let’s just assume what everyone is assuming: Square Enix needed the money and Microsoft helped them. That’s what happens with most 3rd party exclusives, right? Bayonetta 2 was only released because Nintendo financed it, Hello Games didn’t have the money to develop No Man’s Sky for all platforms, etc. That makes sense.

Except Square Enix isn’t a small developer. They release large multiplatform games all the time and have several in development right now. Even if they didn’t have the money to finance another one, there are other ways of getting it. After all, Tomb Raider made enough and a sequel was a pretty safe bet. Going to a console maker and asking for help shouldn’t be the first option, it should be the last.

Hype sells games

Anyone who follows gaming knows that hype sells games. That’s why so many games reach the Steam top sellers list before release and even before the review embargo is over. People aren’t buying those games because they’ve read a good review, they are buying the hype. If Half-life 3 came on sale right now it would break Steam sales records before we’d even see the first screenshot.

Thanks to the quality of the previous game, Rise of the Tomb Raider announcement generated a lot of hype. People were really looking forward to it but then Square Enix told them they can’t play unless they buy the console they don’t want. Well… that’s a sure way to kill the hype.

And obviously, even without the exclusivity deal Tomb Raider wouldn’t be as hyped as Fallout 4 and maybe releasing it on the same day was a bad idea. Just how bad?

Fallout

I’m not sure how reliable this Twitter statistic is, but it clearly shows how hyped Fallout 4 was.