What this deal really tells us, then, is that this is not so much a marriage of convenience between Square and Microsoft as one of desperation. And the reason is that it's simply a bigger game, with an exponentially bigger upside to being on all formats. Look at it this way: There's almost no amount of money that Microsoft could realistically offer Ubisoft to make Assassin's Creed Unity an Xbox exclusive. Kerching! ” But the sad thing is that rather than helping to reassert the brand, the decision to artificially limit Rise of the Tomb Raider's audience-even if it does prove to be temporary-surely only confirms that Raider no longer belongs amongst gaming's top tier. Tl dr is: “We are extraordinarily risk-averse. We have Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris coming to those platforms…”

Those are great systems, with great partners, and amazing communities. This doesn't mean that we're walking away from our fans who only play on PlayStation or on PC. “We know they will get behind this game more than any support we have had from them in the past-we believe this will be a step to really forging the Tomb Raider brand as one of the biggest in gaming, with the help, belief and backing of a major partner like Microsoft.

But don't take my word for it, here's how Darrell Gallagher, head of studios at Crystal Dynamics, explained the decision to get into bed with Microsoft on the Tomb Raider Tumblr :

Rise of the tomb raider pc deal