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Chasesdaddy84 on 27 November 2015
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Symbolic said:

Fallout 3 launched against Guitar Hero: World Tour and LittleBigPlanet (and a week after Fable II) and sold 576,000 units in the US (400k X360, 176k PS3). Lifetime sales in the US are 4.78 million (2.95m X360, 1.83m PS3).

Tomb Raider launched against SimCity, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 and two MLB titles and sold 417,000 units in the US (214k X360, 175k PS3, 28k PC). Lifetime sales in the US are 1.30 million (770k X360, 537k PS3 (PC data is incomplete)).

So, if Fallout 3 sold 3.6 times as many copies as Tomb Raider (Fallout 3 has been on sale longer, but looks like it had significantly better legs than Tomb Raider as well judging by YoY drops), is it really surprising to see Fallout 4 massively outsell Rise of the Tomb Raider? I think the degree of the difference is a little more than most would have expected, but virtually everyone should have expected a roughly similar outcome. Tomb Raider is restricted to one current console (and not the market leader), had controversies of timed exclusivity (with confirmed PC and PS4 releases before the Xbox releases had even happened) and microtransactions and is competing with some of the largest and most hyped IPs in the entire industry (Call of Duty, Fallout and Halo).

Don't know who you are... but I can say that your comment should end this discussion. The best response I've seen in a very long time. You laid it out, explained it with examples and then backed it up with data and near exact comparisons with the games they were up against. The numbers are more inflated now but as you said it is a One (hehe) console exclusive (for now) and is known to have 2 (likely) superior versions releasing in a years time. These numbers SHOULD have been expected and everything you said backs that up. I think what killed Tomb Raider most in the US is that people know they can wait and get a better version (whether PC or PS4) and they can just pick up Fallout 4 now on whatever system they want. 

 

While the Tomb Raider numbers are surprisingly low, I don't think it is shockingly low. The Fallout numbers are very impressive, but again, not shockingly high. Add it all up and we have exactly what happened.