This sucks for consumers, but it's a logical business decision for Square Enix after how Tomb Raider did initially. Remember that the first game in the reboot series only made a profit 9 months after its release despite it ending up selling over 6 million units, and even then its profit margin wasn't particularly large. I imagine MS funded a very significant portion of this game's budget (in particular the marketing/advertising/distribution budget) to get this game as an exclusive, so having a huge portion of the budget being paid up front allows Square Enix to have a higher chance of turning a bigger profit sooner rather than risking a much smaller profit or even a potential loss.

But who knows?

Companies are dying dude. The game has changed and exclusivity of any large AAA title like Tomb Raider needs to be multiplat. If the game was published by MS because Square couldn't afford it then it would be understandable because MS would take the brunt of the punishment just like Nintendo is doing for  Bayonetta. This is different. SE was complaining about six mil not being enough for the game. If thats true SE is in trouble. MS is going to have to pay them up the yin yang.

What on earth does any of that have to do with what I said? Any game that comes out on the PS4 is going to outsell it's Xbox counterpart. For SE to make the next game an Xbox exculisve (assuming it's not timed) is going to be a huge loss for them talking about both money and in fanbase. By going exclusive they are make the desicion to give up at least 50% of their potential sales.

If the new Tomb Raider is even a decent success (~3mil-4mil sold), I would think Microsoft buys the rights to the franchise.

What do I know though, anything can really happen. The game could crash and burn right out of the gate, or it could be the best selling game of the holiday next year.

Releasing games exclusive to a single platform never seems to hurt any of Nintendo's major franchises. Just depends on the install base of the platform in question.

Mario Kart will sell over 35 million units if there are 100 million consoles swimming out there.

It wouldnt be the first time MS bought the rights to a franchise. That seems to be the only way they can build up a healthy collection of games. Tomb Raider would just add itself to the list of Halo, Gears and Rares games. I dont think they would buy it unless Square went under though.

Stupid square what if the game bombs

Here's another thought, if this is a timed exclusive for holiday 2015 then that probably means Square HAS to get it out by then. That means no delays at all otherwise Microsoft doesn't get what they want out of it. If this is the case this is a huge risk. If the game is behind schedule and a delay is not possible then the game may be horribly rushed. A buggy rushed game would most certainly ruin the franchise.

First comment. I never once said that. I'm saying, that I think it's stupid for a franchise that was previously all platforms to go exclusive, which alienates a large portion of the fans. Not false. 

Second comment. I don't get why people keep trying to draw parallels that don't exist between this gen and last gen. They're different generations. Just because the ps4 started out winning doesn't mean that it will end up losing like some people seem to think. That makes no sense. Each generation turns out differently. Could the xbox one eventually catch up and pass the ps4? Yes, it's possible. But ALL trends show that this won't happen at this point in time. The ps4 nearly doubles the xbox one's sales every single week. It makes no sense to assume that the xbox one is going to catch up at this point in time. You have to look at trends to make an educated guess, not just say, "well things could change!" If you had shown me when the wii had more sales than the 360 and ps3 combined, do you know what I would say? The wii is going to win substantially. But things changed. They may or may not change this gen. But no evidence currently suggests a shift despite Microsoft's best efforts. 

At the bolded comment. What are you even trying to say here? I feel like you're just trying to make your argument look more convincing by making it longer at this point.  Also explain the two comments after that. I legitimately don't know what you're trying to prove at this point. 

And finally. The 80% I was talking about. We can eliminate Nintendo from the equation because tomb raider was never going to actually go for that. With sony haveing double the sales of the xbox one,  66%  of the potential buyers would be on ps4. And this trend shows no sign of changing. Then when you factor in PC, you're easily alienating up to 80% of the previous fans of the game. 

Not Really. I bought this game on PC over a year after it came out. I'm just stating a fact. There's was very little chance I was actually going to buy this game within the first year of launch.