Rise of the Tomb Raider has been at the center of attention ever since Microsoft and developer Crystal Dynamics, announced that the game will be exclusive to the Xbox One. However, things might not be as they appear, as Xbox's head honcho, Phil Spencer, came out to settle the score.
According to Spencer, Rise of the Tomb Raider is not truly exclusive to the Xbox One, as the deal between Microsoft and Crystal Dynamics means the exclusivity deal has a "duration," but Spencer did not go into great detail as to what this "duration" thing even means.
In an interview with Eurogamer.net, Phil Spencer was forced to break his silence on the controversial deal. He basically said that he can't talk about whether or not Tomb Raider is coming to other platform, and also claimed that he has a special relationship with Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics.
"When people want me to say, can you tell us when or if it's coming to other platforms, it's not my job," Spencer said. "My job is not to talk about games I don't own. I have a certain relationship on this version of Tomb Raider, which we announced, and I feel really good about our long term relationship with Crystal and Square."
Furthermore, Spencer failed to talk about how long the duration of the deal will be. From what we've gathered from this interview, it would appear as if Spencer is saying that folks should talk to Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix about the future of Rise of the Tomb Raider, as he's only concerned about the deal and nothing else.
Why Square Enix even signed up for this deal anyway?
Well, we have to wonder if it has anything to do with Uncharted 4. The game is rumored for holiday 2015 release, around the same time Rise of the Tomb Raider comes out. It would make sense for Square Enix to avoid Uncharted 4 as much as possible, and it appears the best way the company sees fit to do this is to focus on the Xbox One version of the game, and probably release the PlayStation 4 version at a later date.
We strongly believe this is the case for the Xbox One exclusivity, and thus, we have no problem with it. Many fanboys are complaining about the deal, but would likely pick Uncharted 4 over Rise of the Tomb Raider as their main purchase in holiday 2015.
