Despite unofficial sales figures painting the action-adventure sequel as a flop, Microsoft and Square Enix have issued a response to the launch of Rise of the Tomb Raider, claiming that both parties are “very happy” with Crystal Dynamic’s effort.
Releasing as a timed-exclusive on Xbox One on the same day as Fallout 4, early reports claimed that Rise sold 63,000 units at retail in the UK – by comparison, its predecessor sold 183,000 in 2013 across the same 24-hour period – though Game Director Brian Horton instead pointed to the glowing reviews as a barometer for success.
[zerggaming]Taking to the unofficial Tomb Raider forums, Horton addressed fan concerns.
“I didn’t mean to go off topic or patronise, but there was suggestion in the thread that the reported sales numbers reflect poorly on the dev team. Square [Enix]/Microsoft are happy with Crystal [Dynamics] and Eidos Montreal and the game itself. As to the topic of sales, I’m unqualified to discuss it so I won’t have anything else to say on this thread.”
While we still wait to see just how many copies Rise of the Tomb Raider has officially sold across Xbox One and Xbox 360, Horton added that the development team at Crystal should take pride based on the critical reception.
“The dev team is not responsible for sales and therefore we look to reviews and releasing on time to gauge our performance. We accomplished these goals. The press considers Rise of the Tomb Raider a high quality game based on the scores.”
In the wake of its timed-exclusive launch – one which arguably clipped its wings by limiting the amount of platforms – Rise of the Tomb Raider is expected to debut on PC in early 2016, before eventually making its way onto PS4 late next year.