In 2014, the announcement of Rise of the Tomb Raider had the effect of a bomb. Not only because this opus followed the excellent reboot released the previous year, but also because it was a temporary exclusive to Xbox machines. And Microsoft had taken out the checkbook to afford this great advantage.
Yet inseparable from PlayStation consoles since its debut in 1996, Lara Croft decided to land only on Xbox and Xbox 360 in Rise of the Tomb Raider in November 2015. PS4 players waited another year to be able to go on an adventure with the young Englishwoman. Almost six years later, we may have just discovered the contours of this temporary exclusivity.
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A real treasure for Lara
We owe this information to the LinkedIn profile of Fabien Rossini, former director of development at Square Enix. The main interested party quickly erased the figure that will follow. Thus, according to this information, Xbox would have paid 100 million dollars at the time to obtain the exclusivity of Rise of the Tomb Raider. This amount could also include an advance on profits and marketing commitments.
Add to that the approximately 7 million copies sold (in 2017) on all media and we have a glimpse of the staggering sums brewed by Rise of the Tomb Raider. In a similar context, Epic Games had put $ 115 million on the table for a 6-month exclusivity on the PC version of Borderlands 3.
