IamAwsome said:
potato_hamster said:
IamAwsome said:
And then Sony moneyhatted the game when the majority of the fanbase was still on those platforms.
Whoosh
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So by "moneyhatted" you mean Eidos published the game on PS and Windows, and dropped development on the Saturn platform that was no longer being supported by Sega. Last I checked the term "moneyhatting" refers to a console maker paying for exclusivity. There is no evidence of this.
On top of that, Tomb Raider IV was back on the dreamcast. I guess Sony's check bounced?
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Dated 9/18/97. The deal was likely in the works long before this, and the Saturn wasn't completely dead at the time the deal was negotiated.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Sony+Computer+Entertainment+America+Signs+Exclusive+Deal+with+Eidos...-a019760956
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Business Wire said:
Sony Computer Entertainment America announced today that the Tomb Raider(TM) franchise, featuring leading character Lara Croft, will be exclusive to the PlayStation(TM) for game consoles.
Released in November 1996, the original Tomb Raider game from Eidos Interactive and Core Design, was one of the best-selling videogames of all time with more than 1.5 million units sold for the PlayStation game console worldwide. Marking its one-year anniversary with a highly-anticipated sequel, Tomb Raider 2 is scheduled for release in November 1997.
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The deal was specific to NA and it expired in 00/01. That is why TR II/III never left the PS1, and the Dreamcast version of TR IV launched over a year after the PS1 version in NA while they launched on the same day in Japan and Europe.
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Fair enough. My bad. TR 2 and 3 probably would have been on the Dreamcast if not for this deal, but then again, Sega might not have recouped its development costs based on poor sales of the dreamcast.
Still, the Saturn had sold about 6.5 million by the end of 1996, and only sold another 2 million units in the next 3 years. I'd argue the Saturn was dead at that by the end of 1997, selling next to nothing after that point, but I'll admit it's debatable.
