I was listening to the "Kinda Funny Podcast" and they had an Xbox executive (I can't remember his name sorry) who's job is to oversee the games division at Xbox. Anyway naturally they asked him about the Tomb Raider release date and he defended the decision saying like "If we released a week earlier, we're releasing against COD. A week later and it's Battlefront. So we kind've had no choice and so we decided to release with Fallout."
The thing I don't understand is the lack of foresight in getting into that situation in the first place. Like if I was the boss of Xbox I'd want heads to roll for what appears to be such a clear bad decision that has lost Microsoft tens of millions of dollars. I understand that Fallout kind've came out of nowhere and they probably had that week locked in way in advance, but then you adapt and change your plans. Surely they could have done one of those "we have to delay the games 2 months for polish" things and released it in Dec-Jan or Feb. You can't tell me it would've sold worse in those months.
While I'm not jumping with joy at the game's so-far commercial failure and I'm no fanboy of the PS4, I completely hate and resent timed exclusivity for all consoles and I can't help but be sort've pleased that it's not doing that well. I'd intended to buy the game as I somewhat enjoyed the 2013 game but this timed exclusivity BS has just turned me off and I won't be buying it. It's one thing when its a game like the FF7:Remake which will sell it's vast majority on PS4 anyway and is a Playstation game through and through, but Tomb Raider is not an Xbox game through and through. The 2013 game and it's remastered versions sold far better on the Sony platforms and obviously the legacy of the series is entrenched in Playstation (something Square obviously don't care about as they acquired CD out of nowhere). It just annoys me that Xbox throw money suitcases at Titanfall and TR instead of actually using that money to make a new game/franchise. I'm not saying they don't make new games, but make even more! Imagine if Sony had used the money it spent in acquiring Naughtydog all those years ago, instead using it to purchase some meaningless timed window of exclusivity in the past.
Fortune favours the bold.
