With Square Enix expecting very high sales of about 5-6 million units for Tomb Raider in the first month, and the game only managing 3.4 million, they were quick to say it had had “weak sales” during their financial report, but Crystal Dynamics was “happy with the outcome.”
So, while it may have had a slower than expected start, Tomb Raider Executive Producer Scot Amos told Eurogamer, “By the end of last year – Tomb Raider is in the black. We’ve crossed the line of profitability for the last-gen and PC versions.”
Asked if Square Enix’s original expectations were realistic, Amos replied:
[…] Looking forward, clearly Square and Crystal are invested in the franchise. So, despite how it was said, what was said – we had a lot of people scratching their heads and asking about it – we’re very happy to say that from a partnership internally, we’re committed to it totally. Square Enix talks about it as a key franchise, so we’re very happy with where we’re at.
For the near future of the Tomb Raider franchise, we have the Definitive Edition hitting the PS4 and Xbox One later this month. After confirming that it will be 1080p/30fps, Amos revealed how the development team wanted to do the port, and “it was us who approached both Square Enix and our first-party partners at Microsoft and Sony.”
In fact, the PS4/Xbox One version of Tomb Raider “was in the bag and on the way even before anything happened with sales expectations or where things were at. We were having this conversation at the end of 2012 when we first heard details and rumors of next-gen consoles.”
To help out anyone unsure about whether or not the Definitive Edition is for them, the Tomb Raider brand and marketing team brought out this very useful flow chart:
As for the Tomb Raider sequel, Amos only said, “I can tell you… people are working on it!”
Are you grabbing the Definitive Edition on PS4 or Xbox One? Let us know in the comments below.
