Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2013/03/29/crystal-dynamics-tomb-raider-had-best-week-one-sales-in-franchi/

Tomb Raider has achieved the highest week one sales in the franchise's history, according to Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher. Speaking at a GDC panel alongside creative director Noah Hughes, Gallagher also revealed that Tomb Raider had the most successful launch of any game this year.

"It's been the biggest week one sales in franchise history, and we're only a few weeks into that launch right now, and it's been the biggest opening so far in 2013," said Gallagher. "So, we're happy with the outcome. It's certainly in a place where we feel like we're on the road to achieving everything we wanted to."

The claim seems to be at odds with the feelings of Tomb Raider's publisher, Square Enix, which recently cited "weak sales" of its major titles, including Tomb Raider, as a reason for the company undergoing restructure. When asked about the apparent disconnect between Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics regarding Tomb Raider's performance, Hughes told us, "Certainly we're proud of what we achieved, and I think for the most part, the whole organization is happy with what we did." And for Gallagher, "Actuals and expectations, I guess, are two slightly different things. What I'm telling you is the actuals, and they're communicating expectations."

That raises the question of just what Square Enix was expecting. To put things in perspective, Tomb Raider had higher initial sales than the 1996 original, a game that went on to sell over 6 million units in its lifetime. And yet, despite receiving critical acclaim and breaking franchise records, it would appear that Tomb Raider just isn't number one enough.

Well hopefully Squeenix will let them make a sequel and give up on the pointless multiplayer

But don't count on Squeenix doing anything logical, though maybe with Wada gone we will see a vaguely logical company?

I would very much like a sequel. The game has sold fine. Sqeenix shipped 3.4M, ridiculous amount for such a game. But actual sales of 1.5M -1.8 after just 2 weeks is great. With easter sales, the game would pass 2 mil and should pass of 2.5M by the end of the year.

How can it sell better than any other game in the series and still be below expectations? They set their sights too high. They should have projected it would sell at least as much as the best selling Tomb Raider and then it would have performed above expectations.


BTW: This is going to be a game with legs. Tomb Raider was falling in popularity and this one didn't have the hype for Halo level first day sales. But it has such great word of mouth that it's going to continue to sell for a long time. I've been recommending it left and right to anyone I know who plays games. Most are surprised it good and very interested now.

The guys doing the estimates and sales projections at Square Enix are idiots. They really need to sort their methods out if a game can be this successful and still fail to meet expectations.

Honestly, I'm beginning to sense that Square Enix is simply trying to shoulder blame to their Western devs for their MMO overspend.

The developer is very pleased with the Tomb Raider sales. They did a great job, and it did fantastic. It's not even out in some regions like Japan yet.

The only ones who had ridiculous sales expectations was Squeenix, because they needed a huge cash cow to cover up their losses from their two flopped MMOs. They made an excuse to shift some of the blame away from the core problem. They're a rotten company and they deserve every drop of red ink in their financial reports.