Microsoft just secured itself one of gaming’s biggest franchises for 2015.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is a sequel to the 2013’s series reboot, a game that gave series hero Lara Croft an origin story. During its Gamescom press conference today, Microsoft and developer Crystal Dynamics revealed that Rise of the Tomb Raider will launch exclusively on Xbox One in the fall of 2015.
Publisher Square Enix was initially disappointed with the sales of 2013’s Tomb Raider, although a new-gen release on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 did eventually help it make its lofty goal with total sales approaching six million units back in March. Releasing on just the Xbox One will limit the amount of people who can play the sequel, but the exclusivity deal from Microsoft could help Square Enix turn a quicker profit.
Microsoft was clear that it was a console exclusive for 2015, so we might still see publisher Square Enix release this new Tomb Raider on PlayStation 4 in 2016. Still, in a time when third-party exclusives are becoming a rarity, this is a pretty big win for the Xbox One, which is still struggling behind Sony’s newest console in sales.
