While Xbox is in a very different situation these days, it's hard to forget the struggles Microsoft faced while entering the last generation of consoles, with the Xbox One receiving much criticism upon its announcement. Microsoft tried many options in order to amend the situation, one of which was buying a year of timed exclusivity for Square Enix's long anticipated sequel for the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, Rise of the Tomb Raider. Almost six years after the game's release, a LinkedIn page from an ex-Square Enix employee has revealed just how much money Microsoft spent to make the game a timed Xbox exclusive, and it's a ludicrous number.
When the Xbox One was revealed Microsoft faced a wave of negative attention due to the lack of focus on video games, instead focusing on the console's multi-media capabilities, such as how it could be used to watch TV and as a DVR, as it was marketed as an "all-in-one console." On top of this it was revealed games would release with forced DRM (digital rights management), forcing even physical games to be tied to the console they are first played on in an attempt to kill the pre-owned games market. After Sony took multiple public shots at the company during its E3 2013 conference, these features were dropped, however the damage had been done, and PlayStation 4 ultimately outsold the Xbox One for the entire generation.
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Despite the fact that Microsoft exited the generation much more favorably due to the invention of services such as Xbox Game Pass and its focus on accessibility, for the early years of the Xbox One generation the company was forced to spend millions to amend the situation. One major advantage that Sony had over Microsoft was its collection of first-party studios and exclusives, which forced Microsoft to buy timed third-party exclusives such as Rise of the Tomb Raider. Six years later, a LinkedIn page for Square Enix Strategic Marketing and Corporate Development Director Fabien Rossini has revealed that the Rise of the Tomb Raider deal cost Microsoft $100 million.
For context, the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot sold 3.4 million copies during its release month of March 2013 at retail alone, across multiple platforms. Despite this, Square Enix claimed actually failed to reach sales targets for the month. The game went on to sell over 8.5 million copies by 2015. Rise of the Tomb Raider sold 1 million copies at launch as an Xbox One console exclusive, however by November 2017 (after the game had come to PlayStation 4) the game had sold over 7 million copies. Given how much of a sales boost the game received on PS4, it's hard to imagine that this timed exclusivity did much to drive Xbox One sales.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is available on PC, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.
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