Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbox Exclusivity Announcement Didn’t Mean to Cause Confusion, Dev Says

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August 24, 2014

If there was any confusion about the nature of Rise of the Tomb Raider's Xbox exclusivity, it wasn't Crystal Dynamics' intention, the developer has said.

In a Rise of the Tomb Raider FAQ posted to the game's official Tumblr, Crystal Dynamics was asked why Microsoft, Square Enix, or Crystal Dynamics itself didn't say upfront that this was a timed exclusive, and why it used indirect language.

"We certainly didn’t intend to cause any confusion with the announcement," Crystal Dynamics said. "The Microsoft Gamescom stage was a great place to make the initial announcement, but not necessarily to go into details."

When it was first announced at Gamescom that Rise of the Tomb Raider was exclusive to Xbox One and Xbox 360 in holiday 2015, there was some question as to whether this was merely a timed exclusive, which would allow the game to come to other platforms sometime following its Xbox debut.

Some fans were angry and upset that they wouldn't be able to play the sequel to 2013's Tomb Raider on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PC, but Head of Xbox Phil Spencer eventually announced that the exclusivity won't last forever.

Microsoft and Crystal Dynamics said that the deal will help elevate the Tomb Raider franchise. The deal between Microsoft and Square Enix, according to Xbox boss Phil Spencer, is a win/win situation, and not an attack on PlayStation fans. Signing Rise of the Tomb Raider as an Xbox-exclusive for next year will also help Microsoft better compete with Sony's 2015 game Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Spencer said at the time.