Microsoft has scored a coup with one of the biggest video game franchises in history.
The company has just announced that the reboot of the Tomb Raider series, called Rise of the Tomb Raider, will be exclusive to the Xbox One console. This breaks a streak of cross-platform releases for Tomb Raider titles. The series, which was first released in 1996, first debuted on the Playstation, Sega Saturn and the PC. More recently, it has also made an appearance on Macs and the Playstation 3.
The game, which was first announced last June at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, is expected to be launched during the 2015 holiday season. Crystal Dynamics, the developer of the game, expressed optimism that Microsoft's involvement would make the title one of the biggest in gaming. The exclusive tie-up was announced during an Xbox press conference at the Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany.
"Today's announcement with Microsoft is one step to help us put Tomb Raider on top of action adventure gaming. Our friends at Microsoft have always seen huge potential in Tomb Raider and have believed in our vision since our first unveil with them on their stage at E3 2011," Darrell Gallagher, Crystal Dynamics' head of product development, said in a blog post.
An analyst described the deal as a "decent coup" for Microsoft. "If you look at the third-party titles that come to market, Tomb Raider is up there as one of the most anticipated third-person action titles," Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games at the consultancy IHS, told the BBC.
In spite of the news, the people behind the Tomb Raider said they are not neglecting gamers who only have Playstations and PCs. Gallagher said that Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris will come to the consoles in December.
Aside from the exclusive tie-up, Microsoft also announced a new version of the Xbox One that comes equipped with one terabyte hard drive. The new console, which is expected to be released on November 3, will come bundled with a customized controller and a download code for Call of Duty: Advance Warfare. The whole bundle will have a price tag of $500.
