Tomb Raider Xbox exclusivity: Square knew it would disappoint fans - decision wasn’t easy

[WC4Life]

Machiavellian said:

V-r0cK said:
He can spin it any way he wants, we all know it's nothing more than greed.

He better know that the game will bomb hard and will be long-term.

Actually its not greed it's just business.  The agreement with MS allows the company to help finance a project without any risk.  It means even if TR crash and burn, the publisher and even the developer do not lose out because MS fronted the bill for development and advertisement.  Not sure how long this agreement is from MS but this does mean that if MS paid for exclusive for one year for more than one instance of the game, the project will be funded for multiple years.  

Gamers need to step back with their platform of choice blinders on and think about the finanical situations for developing games.  Its a great deal for Square because they can continue to grow the franchise and tech for the game while someone else pays the bill.  They can get more agressive with hiring key talent and expanding the team to provide better tech all around without much risk financially.  Not only that, they still own the IP and its direction and can sell it on other platforms.  

Greed, I think not.  Smart business, I would say yes.  Either way, Square comes out fine in this deal.

Yes it's purely business decision which might end up badly in the long run. I cannot see how Xbox alone could help Tomb Raider to next level which means if PS4 bombs the franchise will not grow. And if there is no growth then this whole thing has gone backwards. RoTTR sequel will be the one to take all the potential damage, so in the long-term SE has taken huge risk.

Tech wise SE is not thinking long-term making RoTTR cross-gen game.