Last year saw one of the biggest holiday release seasons for the gaming industry in years, and biggest isn't necessarily referring to the number of games being launched, but more the quality and magnitude of games.Rise of the Tomb Raider was arguably a top release last year, but it saw extreme competition from a variety of other games.
Titles like Halo 5: Guardians, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Star Wars Battlefront and of course, Fallout 4 all launched within a matter of weeks of the timed-Xbox exclusive Rise of the Tomb Raider. Heading into the game's launch, just about anyone and everyone was saying Rise of the Tomb Raider would become overshadowed because of Fallout 4, which launched on the same day, and the other AAAs launching around the same time.
While folks may feel the Xbox timed-exclusive would have been better off launching when there was less competition around, Xbox's Aaron Greenberg is choosing not to dwell on hindsight. "From our standpoint, it's hard to look back afterwards and sort of say 'hey, this was the right call, this was the wrong call based on having a whole new set of information. This was something we strategically invested in, we felt really proud of an picked a really great title, a great team with Crystal [Dynamics]...I played the game and it is a fantastic game and it's one of, if not my favorite, Xbox One titles of the year. The team, I think, made a great bet in betting on this title.
"The what week we launched in, what did we go against and how big was Fallout 4, you're right. If I look at from Oct. 26 to Nov. 16, there was seven AAA titles launched in four weeks...that's seven AAA titles that arguably most gamers would want to buy and play all seven and they came out in a four-week time period," Greenberg told Gamertag Radio.
To be frank, everyone knew and could predict Rise of the Tomb Raider would struggle from a sales standpoint simply because of the level of competition and the fact that it was only coming to Xbox One. The sequel was simply not as much of a priority to a majority of gamers compared to franchises like Halo, Call of Duty andFallout. This was crystal clear heading into the game's launch. Greenberg elaborated further on the caliber of competition Rise of the Tomb Raider faced when it was released.
"I think this was a holiday unlike any holiday we can remember or at least one in the many, many years where we had an abundance of riches where we had so many great AAA games all coming out at the same time, all at high quality, and we expected Tomb Raider to go more head-to-head with Uncharted and that [was delayed]. You can look back and say 'hey, I would've liked to have launched the title a little early or a little later,' what have you, but we didn't want to rush the game. At the same time, the feedback on the game has been fantastic, we're really proud of the title.
"Right now we're in that window where everyone is looking to go back and play those great titles that they might have missed and whether you missed Tomb Raider or you didn't...I think it'll be a title people will find when they do [go back to play it]. I believe our partners at Square Enix feel the same way, it really was a good title we should be proud of," Greenberg said.
Rise of the Tomb Raider will be releasing on PC in the coming weeks, with many believing it'll happen sometime this month. It will also drop for the PlayStation 4 toward the end of this year. Our review gave the game a 5/5 perfect score for those interested in learning more about the sequel.
Titles like Halo 5: Guardians, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Star Wars Battlefront and of course, Fallout 4 all launched within a matter of weeks of the timed-Xbox exclusive Rise of the Tomb Raider. Heading into the game's launch, just about anyone and everyone was saying Rise of the Tomb Raider would become overshadowed because of Fallout 4, which launched on the same day, and the other AAAs launching around the same time.
While folks may feel the Xbox timed-exclusive would have been better off launching when there was less competition around, Xbox's Aaron Greenberg is choosing not to dwell on hindsight. "From our standpoint, it's hard to look back afterwards and sort of say 'hey, this was the right call, this was the wrong call based on having a whole new set of information. This was something we strategically invested in, we felt really proud of an picked a really great title, a great team with Crystal [Dynamics]...I played the game and it is a fantastic game and it's one of, if not my favorite, Xbox One titles of the year. The team, I think, made a great bet in betting on this title.
"The what week we launched in, what did we go against and how big was Fallout 4, you're right. If I look at from Oct. 26 to Nov. 16, there was seven AAA titles launched in four weeks...that's seven AAA titles that arguably most gamers would want to buy and play all seven and they came out in a four-week time period," Greenberg told Gamertag Radio.
To be frank, everyone knew and could predict Rise of the Tomb Raider would struggle from a sales standpoint simply because of the level of competition and the fact that it was only coming to Xbox One. The sequel was simply not as much of a priority to a majority of gamers compared to franchises like Halo, Call of Duty andFallout. This was crystal clear heading into the game's launch. Greenberg elaborated further on the caliber of competition Rise of the Tomb Raider faced when it was released.
"I think this was a holiday unlike any holiday we can remember or at least one in the many, many years where we had an abundance of riches where we had so many great AAA games all coming out at the same time, all at high quality, and we expected Tomb Raider to go more head-to-head with Uncharted and that [was delayed]. You can look back and say 'hey, I would've liked to have launched the title a little early or a little later,' what have you, but we didn't want to rush the game. At the same time, the feedback on the game has been fantastic, we're really proud of the title.
"Right now we're in that window where everyone is looking to go back and play those great titles that they might have missed and whether you missed Tomb Raider or you didn't...I think it'll be a title people will find when they do [go back to play it]. I believe our partners at Square Enix feel the same way, it really was a good title we should be proud of," Greenberg said.
Rise of the Tomb Raider will be releasing on PC in the coming weeks, with many believing it'll happen sometime this month. It will also drop for the PlayStation 4 toward the end of this year. Our review gave the game a 5/5 perfect score for those interested in learning more about the sequel.
...But but microsoft said the game sold over a million copies.
