Crystal Dynamics Defends $60 Tomb Raider Port

[Cognimancer]

Crystal Dynamics Defends $60 Tomb Raider Port

The next-gen version of this year's Tomb Raider will be sold at twice the current price of this generation's edition - and Crystal Dynamics says that's just how it has to be.

The Tomb Raider reboot had a lot of incredible technology under the hood, pushing the limit of what this generation of gaming hardware could do. Lately, developer Crystal Dynamics has been working on updating the game for re-release on next-gen consoles [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130327-Tomb-Raider-Definitive-Edition-Coming-to-Next-Gen-Consoles] as Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition. HD remakes are nothing new, of course, but fans are peeved that the Definitive Edition will be sold for $60 at launch, when it's essentially a year-old game. In response, Crystal Dynamics has explained that the tech has been tuned up with next-gen power - but is that tune-up worth the cost?

Crystal Dynamics executive producer Scot Amos took to the Eidos forums for a Q&A, and was asked if it was justified to charge full price for a "facelift." "If it was 'only a facelift' AND we were only reselling it on the same platforms we'd already shipped on, I would see your point," Amos replied. "But as we're selling it on a new platform, with a lot of development work put in to custom craft it for the new platforms; with the new additions for the aesthetic, the physics, the particles, the lighting - taking advantage of next-gen features - so I absolutely stand by our decision to offer up Definitive Edition the way we are."

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition includes a handful of bonus content: namely, all the DLC and some digital art and documentaries. The DLC is almost entirely multiplayer-focused, so single-player gamers (or multiplayer gamers who already bought the DLC during the game's heyday) will find little new here. The new technologies are interesting, but it's up to gamers to decide if marginally better graphics are worth an extra $30 compared to the game's current-gen pricing.

Source: Eidos Games [http://forums.eidosgames.com/showthread.php?t=140668&page=3]

Permalink

 

[Strain42]

Maybe I'm just weird, but I don't see any reason to get super upset about this.

I mean yeah, it's weird that an upgraded version of the exact same game will cost twice as much. Trust me, I'm familiar with that feeling. It's how I felt when I noticed that Rayman: Origins was $20 on every console except the Vita, where it was $40. I didn't complain though...I just waited until the Vita version was also 20. It happens all the time. It'll probably happen with this game too.

No one is being forced to buy it at all, much less at launch.

Unless it's a game I really really want, or I know won't be getting much of a price drop, I hardly every buy games at launch, and I'm just assuming the Current Gen port of the Tomb Raider game that has been out for a year probably doesn't fall into the former category for most people.

If you don't support this idea and think you should pay less for the Current Gen Tomb Raider...then wait until it's cheaper and pay less for it. Who knows, maybe it'd actually send a message to developers.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

They just ported the PC version. Who are they trying to fool here?

 

[Alarien]

$12.

That's what I got it for on PC and it's pretty much pushing the edge of the next-gen consoles based on what it can do on my PC as is.

As said earlier, they are BS'ing the consumer by porting the PC version.

Good job Crystal Dynamics. Y'all stopped being relevant when Amy Henning left and Tony Jay died (RIP).

 

[XMark]

As usual, the question of whether it's worth full price or not will come down to whether people buy it at that price. If not, they'll lower it in a few weeks.

 

[Guffe]

I bought the Wind Waker HD remake at full price.
Sure, it was 2 gens in between but still worth it.
If they really are upgrading it as much as he says then I see no problem with this. Besides they make/publish the game = they choose the cost, when people won't buy it they know they put too big a price tag, or then it will sell well. Who knows...

 

[2HF]

I see no problem with this. Then again, I'm not going to buy it. Then again again, I did buy the PS3 version for $24 and beat it so quickly that it wasn't worth $60 even then. It wasn't worth the $24 I spent. I returned it to gamestop and bought something else.

"It's a good game, just not worth $60, but it wasn't worth $60 in the first place so whatever" is the concise way of saying what I said.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Okay, you haven't actually said what makes it worth $60 to us. You've justified the selling price. What do we get out of it, then? I certainly don't feel like I'm actually getting more than a facelift, even if it is quite different on your end. So I ask - what makes it actually worth $60? Especially when I can buy it on PC right now for something like $15.

 

[Kargathia]

Eh, just consider it $30 retard tax, and all is well in this world. It's not like you don't have the choice to buy it on another platform or anything.

 

[Andy Shandy]

So it's the current-gen versions + hair physics (AKA the PC version)?

Forgive me if I'm not jumping straight to my wallet, Crystal Dynamics...

Then again, I wasn't a huge fan of the game anyway, so perhaps my opinion isn't important on this one.

 

[schrodinger]

Okay, you haven't actually said what makes it worth $60 to us. You've justified the selling price. What do we get out of it, then? I certainly don't feel like I'm actually getting more than a facelift, even if it is quite different on your end. So I ask - what makes it actually worth $60? Especially when I can buy it on PC right now for something like $15.

Don'tcha know?! what makes the $60 price worth is...

[HEADING=2]Dynamic Hair Physics![/HEADING]

see how dynamic it is?

all blow-y in the wind.

 

[Dark Knifer]

Well not buying that a launch even though I've never played it and I don't have a good enough computer to play it cheaply.

 

[Vivi22]

Maybe I'm just weird, but I don't see any reason to get super upset about this.

I mean yeah, it's weird that an upgraded version of the exact same game will cost twice as much. Trust me, I'm familiar with that feeling. It's how I felt when I noticed that Rayman: Origins was $20 on every console except the Vita, where it was $40. I didn't complain though...I just waited until the Vita version was also 20. It happens all the time. It'll probably happen with this game too.

No one is being forced to buy it at all, much less at launch.

That's not really the point. Companies shouldn't be under the impression that a port, to next gen consoles or not, is worth full price for a game that came out a year ago.

Moreover, unless they'd care to detail what they added since then to improve it for next gen consoles, I don't buy the idea that they put in a lot of development work on the port. It was already available on PC and it's a short trip from there to the new consoles. Extremely short in fact. As in barely any actual work involved compared to developing a new title. Even if they added a decent amount of new content or technology upgrades, I can guarantee it isn't even close to the level required for a new game.

Odds are, this update and the amount of work that went into it doesn't justify a price higher than $40, and that price would probably get them a reasonable return.

Hell, when the Deus Ex: Human Revolution director's cut came out on PC, a release also published by Square Enix I might add, they sold it to people who owned the original game on Steam for $5. I believe the regular price for everyone else was $20. And they probably did more work slipping the DLC in there and reworking the boss fights than it would take to get some slightly better physics simulations running in Tomb Raider. So even within the same publishing umbrella, these two approaches are worlds different. One is good for the consumer and the company. The other isn't. It's that simple. And when companies make a blatant cash grab customers should get upset. It's one of the ways we let them know they can take pricing policies like this and shove them up their ass.

 

[Grabehn]

There's a company stating why their price increase is "right"... I'm just going to call every reason BS on this and I can pretty much give for granted that I'm actually telling the truth.

Edit: "But as we're selling it on a new platform, with a lot of development work put in to custom craft it for the new platforms; with the new additions for the aesthetic, the physics, the particles, the lighting - taking advantage of next-gen features - so I absolutely stand by our decision to offer up Definitive Edition the way we are."

So... porting the PC version to the consoles? Yep... it's all BS.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

So what if they sell it for $60?

Just wait a few weeks. Its sales will likely be unimpressive, and the price will drop back down to something more reasonable.

I can understand being impatient with something that's a new release... but this game's already like a year old. What's an extra month or two?

captcha: cliff-hanger

Really, Captcha? Really?

 

[CriticalMiss]

They're just hoping that some people will be desperate enough to have something to play on their new consoles that they will buy it and Squeenix might get to recoup some of the losses on the poor sales of the first edition. They'll sell at least 5 million copies this time around, right?

 

[WouldYouKindly]

You know, you already made a PC version, a platform which has the same or greater graphical ability as the new consoles. Porting should be fairly easy, actually, it should require minimal effort since there's not even the diversity of PCs to account for.

Honestly, if they're telling me they improved the graphics, I think the PC version should see a patch that offers improved graphical performance. If we don't, they are full of shit can should be called out on it.