3 Odd Things About The Tomb Raider Xbox One Exclusive

[Shamus Young]

3 Odd Things About The Tomb Raider Xbox One Exclusive

Rise of the Tomb Raider as an Xbox One exclusive just seems odd on a few levels. We'll let Shamus explain.

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[Agayek]

3 Odd Things About The Tomb Raider Xbox One Exclusive

Rise of the Tomb Raider as an Xbox One exclusive just seems odd on a few levels. We'll let Shamus explain.

Read Full Article

Deals like this are why I'm convinced Microsoft is actively trying to torpedo the Xbox as a thing. It simply doesn't make any sense otherwise, no matter how I slice it. Microsoft has to spend enough money that Squeenix sees the large short-term and small-moderate long-term drop in sales as worth it, but then they go and piss away the vast majority of what they just bought. It makes no sense to me.

I can see Squeenix taking the deal, it's not exactly a secret how poorly they've been doing lately, and an infusion of several million dollars, if not more, would be very welcome to them. I just can't see any reason why Microsoft would make the offer in the first place and then handle it the way they have.

 

[XMark]

Seems simple to me: Microsoft is getting desperate for anything to increase XBone sales, and Squeenix needed some fast cash.

 

[Albino Boo]

Platform exclusive deals are about altering the risk/reward profile. You might potentially lose profit over the long term but you do get a guaranteed lump sum now. AAA games are fairly capital intensive and if you step back and view the publishers portfolio as whole you might want to reduce the risk on the portfolio and ensure cash flow by accepting an exclusive deal. Any large business tries to have different risk profiles across its offerings. Ideally you you want everything to be low risk/high reward but in the real world that isn't possible, so you have low risk/ low reward to high risk/ high reward profiles.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

The only reason Microsoft announced that it was a timed exclusive is that it was so obvious, everybody knew it the moment the news was out. But I bet that Microsoft wasn't counting on that. The whole deal seems so short-sighted, it boggles the mind that adult businessmen could think that it's a good idea.

So how many Xbones can Microsoft sell because of this deal? Not enough to justify paying for it. I'm sure of that. Tomb Raider is good, but it's not a system seller, especially since the cat is officially out of the bag.

 

[Rabidkitten]

They did not do this to sell Xones they did it to make their press conference seem like the Xone was awesome with lots of exclusive content.

 

[gigastar]

They did not do this to sell Xones they did it to make their press conference seem like the Xone was awesome with lots of exclusive content.

That would have been covered by something like at E3 where MS neglected to announce that MGSV was coming to non-Xbox platforms at thier conference.

 

[LaoJim]

That would have been covered by something like at E3 where MS neglected to announce that MGSV was coming to non-Xbox platforms at thier conference.

In fairness, Sony also tried to make it sound like the next-gen GTA V was only coming to PS4 and not XBox One.

But the most bizarre thing to me is that that this sort of thing works - there really are people out there who will buy a $400 console so they can play a $60 video game. I love this game as much as anyone (see the first paragraph) and I'm even willing to buy the game again for a small graphical upgrade. But there's no way I'd buy an Xbox One to play it - not even the recently discounted Kinect-free version. But clearly there must be people who do that sort of thing, or else deals like this wouldn't exist.

In fairness I don't think anyone is claiming Tomb Raider is going to be a massive system seller, I think that with lots of games coming in September/October time and after that Christmas, it's reaching the point where lots of people who have been holding off getting a next-gen console are going to take the plunge. Microsoft wants to make sure they plump for the XBox and, given there's not too much to separate them at the moment, having an extra exclusive (albeit still not out till 2015) might swing it slightly (I'm not saying its going to work, just that's maybe the thinking) Rise of the Tomb Raider was probably the cheapest AAA game they could find (or rather offered most bang for buck in whatever spreadsheet projection they were using).

 

[Trishbot]

Like a lot of Xbox's marketing moves, what should have been a positive on their end blew up in their face as a massive PR nightmare.

Here's the thing... even Xbox owners are claiming to be upset (myself included), because this doesn't benefit us either. We were going to get the game anyway. So rather than invest in their OWN stagnating and struggling properties and studios, and improving Xbox owners' experience, they spent those millions simply denying other people fun instead.

This isn't new. Someone brought up the fact Microsoft spent over $400 million securing the rights to an exclusive NFL app for Xbox... the same amount of money Rockstar and 2K Games spent making Grand Theft Auto V.

Microsoft uses money like a hammer, and views every problem as a nail.

They invest in "names" but not in talent. They bought Halo but let Bungie go because they wanted to work on something new (Destiny now the most pre-ordered game in history). They bought Gears of War, but Epic moved on (Gears of War: Judgment didn't light up the charts). They bought RARE and have simply sat on Conker, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie, Jet Force Gemini, Blast Corps., Kameo, and Battletoads.

This is going to hurt the Tomb Raider franchise, right when it was FINALLY gaining momentum again, and it's not going to convince people to pick up an Xbox One. If anything, like the over 10 million PS4 owners, 80 million PS3 owners, and 70 million Steam owners, it makes non-Xbox owners angry and bitter at the company. It doesn't motivate them to buy a system; it motivates them to hold a grudge against them for taking away a series they loved.

This happened with Resident Evil going exclusive to Gamecube for awhile. Spoiler: it didn't work out. Nintendo hoped the millions of Resident Evil fans would buy the system and get some hardcore gamers onboard. Resident Evil fans didn't show up. The games were the worst-selling in the series, outsold by PS2 spin-offs instead. They lost a lot of money, and Capcom overhauled the whole thing to have less scary elements to reach a wider audience and recoup losses, damage the brand still hasn't recovered from. Gamecube sales did not pick up.

Microsoft apparently didn't study their history.

 

[vxicepickxv]

I would be willing to bet the first advertisement period is going to be paid for by Microsoft, with the second covered by Square Enix.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

The first point rings the truest to me. Why would you slash your consumer base so badly with a game that, while it was pretty good, was not a ground-breaking hit like they wanted? I simply cannot fathom it.
The third point is also a very good one. Why would Microsoft willing shoot themselves in the foot by saying that the exclusive is a timed one? That made me very happy, because I intend to buy a PS4 first, and as such I can simply wait until this game is released on my preferred system.

If Microsoft really wants to sell Xbox Ones so badly that they are making crazy money decisions, then I suggest they find some way to make 360 games work on it. That would get me to buy one instantly. I could play my old games on the new system, not have to worry about losing more space because it would just go where the 360 was, and when a game comes out, I would be ready to go.

 

[youji itami]

"But the most bizarre thing to me is that that this sort of thing works - there really are people out there who will buy a $400 console so they can play a $60 video game. I love this game as much as anyone (see the first paragraph) and I'm even willing to buy the game again for a small graphical upgrade. But there's no way I'd buy an Xbox One to play it - not even the recently discounted Kinect-free version. But clearly there must be people who do that sort of thing, or else deals like this wouldn't exist."


This happens with themed console bundles all the time I know enough people who have to have the special coloured console to have 4 working 360's and don't get me started on the legions of Japanese DS/3DS owners who buy the special edition console play the game then sell it for 30% of what they paid after a week then go and do it again with the next themed handheld.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

Does the TR HD update even have any advantage over the existing PC version?

That's what I wondered too. I had gotten the impression that it was essentially a port of the PC version with all the settings cranked up. Stuff like tessellation and TressFX that the older systems couldn't handle. Especially TressFX - I've always suspected that they partnered with AMD on that because they knew that AMD would be producing the CPUs and GPUs in the current-gen consoles, but didn't realize the release dates on them were still so far away.

 

[tzimize]

Since Squeenix spat in my face with this deal, there is no way I am going to buy their game when it arrives on PC. And who knows, maybe not the next either. They have distanced themselves from me. The customer. It baffles me that this kind of thing does not seem to have a long lasting effect.

One should think brand-recognition and reputation was important. Especially in a field that lives and breathes on the internet, where rumor (and not to mention rage) travels at the speed of light.

Not too long ago I pre-purchased Witcher 3. I dont know much about it, I know it will be open world, and I'm a bit skeptical about that. But I love the work of CD Project, I loved their previous games and last, but not least I love their policies as a company.

I like them. I am a fan. That makes it easy for me to decide to buy their products. Hell, I've bought a lot of stuff on gog.com just to support them. This is the kind of goodwill you cant buy for money. You have to WORK to EARN it. How the hell it can be long-term financially viable to squander the goodwill of ones fans...I just dont get.

 

[Sarge034]

Snip

I was with you up until you got to point three. Specifically...

"but for Microsoft there was nothing to be gained and everything to lose by coming out and admitting that you won't need to buy an Xbox One to get the game. It undercuts the only thing they have to gain in this deal: The potential to sell consoles."

You see I think MS had more to lose by trying to keep it a secret. Perhaps the only thing MS learned during the initial Xbone release was that misinformation bordering on straight out lies will, more often than not, lead to general distain and bad will from the public resulting in a devastating income loss. If they had not said anything and SE were the ones to break the news everyone would roll their eyes and say, "Typical MS, telling us a lie and then doing a 180." The chance to show themselves as the honest up front ones may very well have been worth the cost to buy a limited exclusivity deal.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

This reeks of desperation. Microsoft is getting pummeled this generation because their console is a bit shit and costs more. They try to turn this around with trickery rather than making their console genuinely better to develop for or more user friendly.

This will not end well. For one, I'm dedicated to not giving the Xbox One a single cent. I'd rather wait a few months and get a superior version of the game than pay for a crappy version to go with a crappy console and pay 10 times as much.

 

[Trishbot]

You see I think MS had more to lose by trying to keep it a secret. Perhaps the only thing MS learned during the initial Xbone release was that misinformation bordering on straight out lies will, more often than not, lead to general distain and bad will from the public resulting in a devastating income loss. If they had not said anything and SE were the ones to break the news everyone would roll their eyes and say, "Typical MS, telling us a lie and then doing a 180." The chance to show themselves as the honest up front ones may very well have been worth the cost to buy a limited exclusivity deal.

But they HAVEN'T been upfront about it. They've, in fact, contradicted their messaging on this about a half-dozen times, and they specifically commented on this issue THREE times, muddling the issue further and further. Even Sony is joking about it at their expense.

I mean, compare and contrast:
Sony: "Hellblade is coming first to Playstation 4."
Microsoft: "Rise of the Tomb Raider is coming Holiday 2015, exclusively on Xbox One."

Sony was clear and upfront. Microsoft only admitted the deal had "a duration" after the collective internet threw a huge ball of hate their way demanding clarification.

 

[Bad Jim]

Does the TR HD update even have any advantage over the existing PC version?

Take a look:
http://www.ign.com/videos/2014/01/28/tomb-raider-complete-graphics-comparison-ps4xbox-onepcps3xbox-360

I notice that they have changed Laras' face a bit. Look at the radio tower comparison about two minutes in. PC Lara is just a high res version of PS3/360 Lara. But PS4/xbone Laras have remodelled faces. It's not a clear improvement, but it's not simply inferior to the PC version either.

 

[Pyrian]

But the most bizarre thing to me is that that this sort of thing works - there really are people out there who will buy a $400 console so they can play a $60 video game. ... But clearly there must be people who do that sort of thing, or else deals like this wouldn't exist.

Nobody buys a console just to own the console. It's always about games. And most people don't actually play all that many games. So, a single must-play game can easily swing a decision. They're not necessarily paying the full $460 for one game.

Heck, when I saw Homeworld, I went right out and bought a $1500 computer. Sooner or later I was going to do that anyway. But it certainly pushed my schedule up a bit.