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Phil Spencer: MS will spend money on marketing and developing Rise of the Tomb Raider

AngerdX said:
The only thing this debacle has done for me is that now i outright refuse to even consider getting an Xbox one down the line, and as for Tombrider that is now a dead franchise to me.
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feel this is going to hurt that other tomb raider series, co-op one. Game will have weaker sales on PC and PS4 now imo.

gamers have already shown how bitter they can be, just look at Xbox One sales...
 
DSN2K said:
feel this is going to hurt that other tomb raider series, co-op one. Game will have weaker sales on PC and PS4 now imo.

gamers have already shown how bitter they can be, just look at Xbox One sales...
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Now you are connecting two wildly different things. If you honestly think Xbox One is where it is because gamers are "bitter" then let me disagree with you. Xbox One isn't selling as well as PS4 because it offers less value to many. That said it's more like PS4 is selling extremely well rather than Xbox One is selling horribly.

Again with the Guardian of Light sequel I think it comes down to whether it's a good game or not.
 
Sendou said:
Yeah that seems to be the case. Beyond that it doesn't even matter in my opinion.

I honestly believe Rise of the Tomb Raider will be a better game with Microsoft's money. Now it's in Microsoft's best interest making sure it's the best possible game.
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That's a nice, positive way to look at it, a nice change to some of the discussion here. I like it! Gonna save an everythingwentbetterthanexpected.gif for all those future Tomb Raider reviews ;) .
 
I really don't get whats up with MS at the moment. I can only see this kind of deal generating yet more ill-feeling towards the brand, from outsiders, the very same people they are trying to woo over ironically.

I wouldn't be surprised if RotTR never turns up on the PS4, though I think PC should be safe.
 
Sendou said:
Yeah that seems to be the case. Beyond that it doesn't even matter in my opinion.

I honestly believe Rise of the Tomb Raider will be a better game with Microsoft's money. Now it's in Microsoft's best interest making sure it's the best possible game.
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How so? TR2013 was released about 2 years ago making the sequel in development for 3 years in the making, which is pretty standard for most AAA titles. The first game was in development hell for 5 years and required 4 million to break even. By that estimates, we're looking at a cheaper development cost, especially when all the focus is on 2 platforms (X1 & 360).

Unless of course the studio bumped up in manpower, I fail to see how MS money would yield any benefit to their current funding other than an expense-free marketing campaign.
 
BuggeryBugz said:
It might not always be that cut and dry.
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Yeah things like where the majority of the fanbase who buys the games matters as well (see Japaneese games on PS3), which makes it all the more baffling from a business perspective of franchise growth that it's Xbox timed exclusive, yes first on PlayStation would equally suck but that's where most of the sales come from, so it's the logical starting point if CD really were poor and didn't have enough resources for multiplat development. >_> <_<
 
Cave Johnson said:
Unless of course the studio bumped up in manpower, I fail to see how MS money would yield any benefit to their current funding other than an expense-free marketing campaign.
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So why couldn't they bump up in manpower? Beyond that we have outsourcing that is expensive too. Stuff like QA.
 
Robbit_80 said:
I really don't get whats up with MS at the moment. I can only see this kind of deal generating yet more ill-feeling towards the brand, from outsiders, the very same people they are trying to woo over ironically.

I wouldn't be surprised if RotTR never turns up on the PS4, though I think PC should be safe.
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Really. They've been trying so hard to earn the good will of the gaming community these past months, so you have to question why they would go through with this exclusivity deal when it was obvious it would cause such a shitstorm and paint Microsoft as the bad guys that they were perceived as during E3 last year.

Game won't be completely absent from the PS4 though. We'd know by now if it was.
 
soul creator said:
The game was never announced as multi platform. It was just assumed to be, based on the previous versions being multiplatform.
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xbox.com has this (sorry, large image to get it all in without editing):

xboxdotcom35sgi.png
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Xbox One Blockbuster Exclusives

Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Sunset Overdrive
Forza Horizon 2
Crackdown
Fable Legends
Super Ultra DR3 Arcade Remix
Project Spark
Halo 5: Guardians
Scalebound
Killer Instinct 2
Ori and the Blind Forest

Featured Games

Assassin's Creed Unity
Batman: Arkham Knight
Battlefield Hardline
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Dance Central Spotlight
Destiny
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Evolve
Far Cry 4
Madden NFL 15
Rise of the Tomb Raider
The Evil Within
Tom Clancy's The Division
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
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Looks like a nice little bit of white space there where ROTT could have sat under exclusives...
 
AngerdX said:
The only thing this debacle has done for me is that now i outright refuse to even consider getting an Xbox one down the line, and as for Tombrider that is now a dead franchise to me.

Kinda bummed about it as i feel MS was doing better and fixing alot of the initial crap, so i guess it´s another gen where i´ll just go PS and PC with the odd WiiU game in the mix.

And yes my word of mouth for Xone will be toxic going forward, and if Sony does this i think i´ll be done with console gaming period.
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You're free to do as you please but you might as well be done with gaming now if you're so easily offended.

This is like people saying they wouldn't buy Assassin's Creed on pc because Ubisoft used to intentionally delay the games release compared to their console counteirparts.

It sucks but if people are so fickle that they'll hold a grudge and sever themselves from a gaming experience they were craving cause of all these backroom deals, might be time to find a new hobby.
 
Acquiescence said:
Really. They've been trying so hard to earn the good will of the gaming community these past months, so you have to question why they would go through with this exclusivity deal when it was obvious it would cause such a shitstorm and paint Microsoft as the bad guys that they were perceived as during E3 last year.

Game won't be completely absent from the PS4 though. We'd know by now if it was.
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I would argue Titanfall's exclusivity didn't cause remotely as much shitstorm as this.

Ultimately, people at their level may just look at this as an ammo to flag up their platforms, without a care for what they may perceive as 'bitterness of other platform fans.'

Put it this way, they haven't done anything about the indie launch parity at all, and those aren't even for 'fans', but are for 'developers'. So much for caring.
 
JoJo UK said:
Maybe the deal had not been finalized at E3?
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"
image.php
" Indeed.

Sendou said:
Yeah that seems to be the case. Beyond that it doesn't even matter in my opinion.

I honestly believe Rise of the Tomb Raider will be a better game with Microsoft's money. Now it's in Microsoft's best interest making sure it's the best possible game.
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Maybe. Maybe not. Too much speculation going on. Also, what the fuck? People are getting banned left and right for this bullshit. It sucks to see that, even if certain opinions are outlandish. I wouldn't want to be banned due to discussion regarding Square Enix moronic business decisions nor Microsofts power PR of mystique. It's simply not worth it.
 
Sendou said:
Well that's reaching. What reason do you have to believe that Microsoft had a paired number of exclusives then?
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I was replying to the person who said it wasn't announced as exclusive, the press release and their website have it in with all the other multiplats, not exclusives.
 
soul creator said:
What else could it be? One possibility is that it was still leaning heavily towards Xbox exclusivity (hence the presence at the MS E3 conference, and the lack of any other platforms mentioned), but the paperwork wasn't signed yet (so it wasn't 100% official). The game was officially in limbo as far as the question "when and where will this be released?" goes (so MS couldn't use any official exclusivity language yet), but all signs were pointing heavily in Microsoft's direction.

Then the final deal gets signed, and all parties agree on the "holiday 2015, only on Xbox" language (or whatever it was it said). SE may or may not have already planned out and budgeted for the release date and platform plans for after 2015, but for now, that's what's known. And the rest is history, lol.

Of course, this is me "reading between the lines", but since that's what everyone else is doing anyway...
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As far as when the official trailer says "Holiday 2015"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhGEFLcPHsY&channel=tombraider

As far as where we already know the story but yh I agree the deal was in process at that point meaning there is was no clear commitment to it being a timed exclusive but a multi-platform title as shown again here
 
Fingers crossed for Ps4 release. Sounds to me typical business speak.. obsfucate, conceal and sew seeds of uncertainty. In the vain hope of selling more systems.
 
JoJo UK said:
I'm confused, do we know it's been console exclusive/timed exclusive since E3, surely deals can get made at any point the a games development cycle, things change all the time? Did I miss something?
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I don't want to partake in this discussion any longer. All I'm going to say is that I believe this was multiplatform to begin with and the writing is on the wall, literally. Search the thread and pay attention to the likes of Kagari and posters who have went out of their way to point towards being multiplatform.

SE didn't need the money. The cash is simply to prevent the game from being played on PS4.
How ever long that will last remains to be seen.
 
EmptySpace said:
again, different scenario. what is it that you're not getting? crystal dynamics has the luxury and capacity and capability of delivering ps4 pc xbone and wii u versions on the same day.

this isn't some hypocritical nonsense that no mans sky is getting a pass but tomb raider isn't. both games are in very different circumstances. no mention of a pc version until months later is because they can't comment on something that they're not even actively working on. right now hello games is focusing on one version because right now they can only focus on one. no doubt their engine works cross platform, and most likely they'll release it elsewhere, point is no one at sony tried to mislead people by using sneaky phrases, hello games have been honest about focusing on one platform, and we all know the situation with a 12-person team so overall they had a legitimate, can't do anything about it situation.
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I think you are missing the point I tried to make, it has nothing to do with the deal structure of both games or even the specifics on why the game for now is coming to one platform; it has to do with how and why other platforms are not promoted for the sake of exclusivity. It has a period of non-transparency so other versions are not promoted, understandably because parties involved want to promote it as theirs for time given. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, like I have said countless post before in this very thread.

Why I make the comparison is that in both cases parties won’t talk about it coming to other platforms because of the non-disclosure; both want to be marketed as premier titles and both parties benefit from this arrangement, via development ease on the focus on one platform. Understandable that in both cases they will be vague about any other platforms, even though we can feel out that it probably will be the case for both games.
 
Dirk Benedict said:
I don't want to partake in this discussion any longer. All I'm going to say is that I believe this was multiplatform to begin with and the writing is on the wall, literally. Search the thread and pay attention to the likes of Kagari and posters who have went out of their way to point towards being multiplatform.

SE didn't need the money. The cash is simply to prevent the game from being played on PS4.
How ever long that will last remains to be seen.
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I'm not disagreeing with that though, all I'm saying it the deal might not have been down until between E3 and gamescom.

I don't think this should be a console locked exclusive, but if it ends up being that way I hope MS helps to make it the best it can be on XB1.
They wont, they'll pay for marketing
 
Acquiescence said:
Really. They've been trying so hard to earn the good will of the gaming community these past months, so you have to question why they would go through with this exclusivity deal when it was obvious it would cause such a shitstorm and paint Microsoft as the bad guys that they were perceived as during E3 last year.

Game won't be completely absent from the PS4 though. We'd know by now if it was.
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Ive been asking myself this too. MS really dont want any egative press if they can avoid it and im sure theyre aware of that too.

All I can figure is they mis-judged the degree of likely reaction; and they've a history of this of late; or they decided the potential eventual rewards outweighed the potential risks; or perhaps theyre just actng without thinking things fully through, essentially jumping onto any chance to hurt/beat Sony.

I dont think its a good deal for MS nor do i think itll prove worth the bad PR but only time will tell.
 
Genuinely laugh out loud worthy from Microsoft at the moment. Companies who want to treat their customers and potential customers like fools deserve every bit of hate they get.
 
The shitstorm will pass.. The game is over a year from release. In a couple of weeks this will be forgotten..

And reading the op, could this be Xbox/PC only If its like dead rising..???

Honestly, this gen is already lost. Instead of throwing money at these sort of deals. They should start investing in the future.. Buying I.Ps and studios and outsourcing some of their dormant I.Ps
 
This reminds me of the format war when Sony choked Toshiba out by grabbing up studios to ultimately prevent those studios releasing movies on HD DVD.

How quickly some people forget Sony by no stretch is a virgin saint.


Come off it people. While I disagree with the practice, let's not pretend that MS is at the forefront of the practice.
 
BDP said:
This reminds me of the format war when Sony choked Toshiba out by grabbing up studios to ultimately prevent those studios releasing movies on HD DVD.

How quickly some people forget Sony by no stretch is a virgin saint.


Come off it people. While I disagree with the practice, let's not pretend that MS is at the forefront of the practice.
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Are you joking? Please be joke post.
 
Leyasu said:
The shitstorm will pass.. The game is over a year from release. In a couple of weeks this will be forgotten..
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The shitstorm will pass, but the narrative will remain.

Next year's E3, unless TR has a mindblowing gameplay reveal, the same questions will be asked and will root itself as part of the narrative behind the game.

Uncharted 4 will be the same, though it's debatable that ND has already maximised its reputation management of the game the best it could with a stellar in-engine reveal and the fact that its director are the leads of TLoU. Even so, next year's E3 will need to have a bombastic gameplay reveal to silence the critics.

Nobody wants to go into an interview with games journalist, and the question they keep asking has nothing to do about the game itself, but rather about the game's controversy.
 
Sendou said:
Now you are connecting two wildly different things. If you honestly think Xbox One is where it is because gamers are "bitter" then let me disagree with you. Xbox One isn't selling as well as PS4 because it offers less value to many. That said it's more like PS4 is selling extremely well rather than Xbox One is selling horribly.

Again with the Guardian of Light sequel I think it comes down to whether it's a good game or not.
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trust in the manufacturer is important part of value regarding products, its not just about the games or weaker hardware.Why do you think Apple can sell iphones at silly prices in comparison to Android phones ? Trust/Brand is strong.
 
zomgbbqftw said:
Without articles like this:

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/10/29/titanfall-exclusive-to-xbox-one-xbox-360-and-pc-forever/

And obfuscation from Spencer it is very obvious that it is timed exclusive. If it wasn't he would already have said it is exclusive forever, just as they and EA did for Titanfall. Trying to muddy the waters by implying they have helped with development proves nothing.

It is timed exclusive, nothing more or less and MS are trying to imply that they have tied up the full exclusive but can't say that as it isn't true. That is the dishonesty people don't like, trying nod and wink to gamers that, yeah this is a full exclusive, while not actually saying it outright with phrases like "coming holiday 2015, exclusive to Xbox". So when it does eventually come out on PS4/PC those few people who buy XB1 to play the game have nothing to complain about because every statement makes a mention of 2015, even though they have all be worded in such a way to imply that it is indefinite and 2015 is just the launch.

Anyone still arguing that it isn't timed exclusive, if it wasn't why hasn't Spencer/Harrison/Major Nelson come out and used the word "forever" or "indefinitely"? That would clear up any and all confusion right away. The omission of such language is proof enough that it is timed exclusive, and the concerted effort to confuse people is yet more proof.



Why even bother getting involved in this shit show? Let MS tie themselves up in knots trying to pretend and imply that it is fully exclusive and just count down the days until the deal is over.


If that was the case then why didn't Spencer end all of the confusion and just say "It is Xbox exclusive forever" instead of using bullshit language like they have? We have an example with Titanfall where once the deal was made for the lifetime exclusive articles and quotes popped up with that information using words like "forever", "lifetime" and "indefinitely". The lack of this language for RoTR is very telling.
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QFT
The fact that we learn more from what MS is not saying than we do from what they actually say is just proof of the absurdity of their PR machine. So much verbose obfuscation and manufactured confusion that it's the things they don't say that we have to turn to to make sense of it all. And yet still we have people crying out and defending them for it because "they aren't obligated to tell us." Well yes but they obviously aren't obligated to mislead us with the assumption that we are idiots who can't see right through it.
 
Next year's retail exclusive line up

Xbox One
Quantum Break
Fable Legends
Rise of the Tomb Raider (also on 360)
Halo 5

PS4
The Order 1886
Ratchet Redux
BloodBorne
Uncharted 4

fall 2015 MS have a advantage where they have Halo 5 and Tomb Raider. Its 0vvious they bouggt exclusivity for Tomb Raider to compete with Uncharted.
 
RexNovis said:
QFT
The fact that we learn more from what MS is not saying than we do from what they actually say is just proof of the absurdity of their PR machine. So much verbose obfuscation and manufactured confusion that it's the things they don't say that we have to turn to to make sense of it all. And yet still we have people crying out and defending them for it because "they aren't obligated to tell us." Well yes but they obviously aren't obligated to mislead us with the assumption that we are idiots who can't see right through it.
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Another thing to add to that is even though DR3 and Ryse were quoted as 'examples' of the partnership, the big difference was that no one back then ever bothered to query the exclusivity status of DR3 and Ryse, because it was assumed that it would be perma-exclusive anyway, because it was promoted as such and labelled a MS Games Studio title... you know, first-party. The only game that ever got queried was SSO, and that was established as a perma-exclusive, and even then, Capcom lied before when they said DR3 would only ever be on XB1.

So... you mention those games as examples of a partnership, but he's not actually calling the game as a permanent console exclusive, because... reasons.

KAL2006 said:
Next year's retail exclusive line up

Xbox One
Quantum Break
Fable Legends
Rise of the Tomb Raider (also on 360)
Halo 5

PS4
The Order 1886
Ratchet Redux
BloodBorne
Uncharted 4

fall 2015 MS have a advantage where they have Halo 5 and Tomb Raider. Its 0vvious they bouggt exclusivity for Tomb Raider to compete with Uncharted.
Click to expand...

You can add Forza 6 to MS's line-up.
 
KAL2006 said:
fall 2015 MS have a advantage where they have Halo 5 and Tomb Raider. Its 0vvious they bouggt exclusivity for Tomb Raider to compete with Uncharted.
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I'm not sure that the sequel to a game that failed to meet Square-Enix's sales expectations is going to compete with the one-two punch of Naughty Dog and Uncharted. Is it an alternative? Sure. Is it actual competition? I doubt that.
 
you know..i really hope its true its exclusive. i hope it bombs and i hope they are foced to released it on other platforms after they realize it bombs. they ust asked ms for the money to develop the game so they didnt have to spend it. honestly, i would have taken another game.
 
zomgbbqftw said:
Without articles like this:

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/10/29/titanfall-exclusive-to-xbox-one-xbox-360-and-pc-forever/

And obfuscation from Spencer it is very obvious that it is timed exclusive. If it wasn't he would already have said it is exclusive forever, just as they and EA did for Titanfall. Trying to muddy the waters by implying they have helped with development proves nothing.

It is timed exclusive, nothing more or less and MS are trying to imply that they have tied up the full exclusive but can't say that as it isn't true. That is the dishonesty people don't like, trying nod and wink to gamers that, yeah this is a full exclusive, while not actually saying it outright with phrases like "coming holiday 2015, exclusive to Xbox". So when it does eventually come out on PS4/PC those few people who buy XB1 to play the game have nothing to complain about because every statement makes a mention of 2015, even though they have all be worded in such a way to imply that it is indefinite and 2015 is just the launch.

Anyone still arguing that it isn't timed exclusive, if it wasn't why hasn't Spencer/Harrison/Major Nelson come out and used the word "forever" or "indefinitely"? That would clear up any and all confusion right away. The omission of such language is proof enough that it is timed exclusive, and the concerted effort to confuse people is yet more proof.

Why even bother getting involved in this shit show? Let MS tie themselves up in knots trying to pretend and imply that it is fully exclusive and just count down the days until the deal is over.

If that was the case then why didn't Spencer end all of the confusion and just say "It is Xbox exclusive forever" instead of using bullshit language like they have? We have an example with Titanfall where once the deal was made for the lifetime exclusive articles and quotes popped up with that information using words like "forever", "lifetime" and "indefinitely". The lack of this language for RoTR is very telling.
Click to expand...
This is obfuscation?



He answered it point blank, and he didn't even have to.

Really, c’mon now, don’t resort to mental gymnastics to prevent reading what is said.
 
KAL2006 said:
Next year's retail exclusive line up

Xbox One
Quantum Break
Fable Legends
Rise of the Tomb Raider (also on 360)
Halo 5

PS4
The Order 1886
Ratchet Redux
BloodBorne
Uncharted 4

fall 2015 MS have a advantage where they have Halo 5 and Tomb Raider. Its 0vvious they bouggt exclusivity for Tomb Raider to compete with Uncharted.
Click to expand...

Unless you're a Halobot, MS doesn't have the advantage there.
 
TheOddOne said:
Really, c&#8217;mon now, don&#8217;t resort to mental gymnastics to prevent reading what is said.
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I'm not going to cite names, but there are folks with mental gymnastics here that attribute Spencer's 'IP/franchise' statement in the sentence to a possibility 'Oh, MS might had bought a duration where every game made by Crystal is perma-exclusive to MS, but only that duration!'

As fucking stupid as that sounds.

Or it being a "Oh, it's like Ryse/DR3 where MS has a duration of exclusivity, but most likely never coming to PS4 ever! because that's what happened with both those games!"

And while I will say that the Eurogamer article is pretty straight-forward, the Kotaku article is slightly less so.
 
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