In Defense Of Tomb Raider’s Timed Exclusivity

            When it was announced at Microsoft’s Gamescom 2014 Press Conference that Rise of the Tomb Raider, the follow up to Crystal Dynamics’s 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, would be coming exclusively to Xbox in the Holiday season of 2015 many fans of the franchise were up in arms. They felt betrayed by Square Enix and spited by Microsoft for taking a game series that had at one point been seen as a staple of the PlayStation brand and preventing PlayStation and even PC owners from being able to play the highly anticipated next installment. Following the fan uproar it was revealed that Rise of the Tomb Raider’s Xbox exclusivity is only for a limited time and that Square Enix & Crystal Dynamics have the ability to eventually bring it to other systems.

            Despite this fans are still upset: some have boldly proclaimed that they will never buy a Square Enix game again. This leads to two problems I have. One is that the Internet is so damn hyper-reactionary and overdramatic all the time. The second is its ridiculous need to villainize companies.

The idea that anyone who is upset because they really want to play Tomb Raider as soon as it comes out, but instead have to wait for it to be ported to their platform of choice will then NOT buy that game when it becomes available or ANY other game from a massive publisher like Square Enix is insane. Just because one entry in the Tomb Raider franchise will be on Xbox first they plan to never buy another Tomb Raider or Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts or Dragon Quest or Deus Ex or anything else Square Enix puts out? Give me a break. Not one person will keep their word; it is just a bunch of empty threats from grown men acting like insufferable children. Square Enix and Microsoft are not out to get anyone. They didn’t do this to piss off or hurt PlayStation & PC fans. They made a business decision to help each of their businesses do a little better. They are not evil, they aren’t even bad, they are simply looking out for their own best interests, which is something just about every business and person does. After all, these so called “fans” are only upset about this whole thing because Tomb Raider coming out first on a platform they don’t own isn’t in their best interest, or at least they don't see it that way.

Let’s not forget that this type of deal has been done before. Back during the Gamecube era Nintendo managed to get multiple exclusives from the Resident Evil franchise including, most notably, Resident Evil 4. Up until that point Resident Evil (like Tomb Raider) had been most strongly connected to the PlayStation brand, but then it went the exclusive route with Nintendo. Unlike Rise of the Tomb Raider, Resident Evil 4 spent a long time telling fans that it would never appear on another platform. When the game eventually game to the PS2 Resident Evil fans didn’t boycott it and they certainly hadn’t been refusing to buy all other Capcom games that were available on the PS2 in the meantime. No, when RE4 came to the PS2 fans rushed out to buy it. Why? Because RE4 was and still is an incredible game. It had critics raving, fans cheering and had won a bunch of awards. Resident Evil 4 made the series more talked about and more popular than it had ever been before. Now this is not entirely because it was exclusive to one console, but I do think that helped. Mostly people were talking about the game because it was great and being exclusive might have aided in that. The developers didn’t need to focus on getting the same thing running on multiple platforms and could just focus on making the one version as good as possible. Plus, typically, everyone pays extra attention to exclusives, especially when they go over well enough with critics and fans to reach that elusive “must-play” territory. Following RE4 the next major game in the franchise, Resident Evil 5, went the multi-platform route and was available on both Xbox 360 and PS3 from day one. Resident Evil 5 was a huge success and currently holds the title of highest selling game Capcom has ever released.

Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics said that they think having Rise of the Tomb Raider start out as an exclusive for Xbox platforms can help the Tomb Raider franchise.

“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."

- Darrell Gallagher (Head of Studio for Crystal Dynamics)

This strategy definitely worked for Resident Evil when it partnered with Nintendo, so it stands to reason that this could be great for Tomb Raider and subsequently all of its fans, especially when you take into account the fact that Microsoft tends to put a much bigger marketing push behind its key games like Halo and Gears of War than just about anyone else.

            Try not to forget that just because Microsoft is a big company that does not make them evil, and that just because you prefer PlayStation doesn’t make Sony a group of saints. If you are an upset Sony fan who thinks that this is a dirty, rotten move by Microsoft in getting timed exclusivity for the second game in the Tomb Raider reboot series, remember that Sony made a deal starting with the second game in the original Tomb Raider series for full console exclusivity. That’s right; everyone makes these deals: Microsoft, Nintendo and even Sony. I don’t see Rise of the Tomb Raider coming to Xbox first as a bad thing. I think it has the potential to make it a better game and give Tomb Raider a bigger name, which will then lead to more sales, thus raising the budgets going forward and further driving up the quality of the series. And I bet that is what Square Enix is thinking as well. Now you tell me, what is wrong with that?