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[Dragon Puncher]

Man crazy news. Unfortunately all my excitement for the game has all but vanished at this point. Tomb Raider didn't deserve such a fate.

Also OP - in regard you having zero success contacting a mod remember that "Modbot" is not a single mod but rather a tool that other Mods can use to not use their main mod account which is why you probably never received a response. Not sure why they do this here on Gaf. Maybe to do whatever and not get a bad reputation?

Anyway hope that clears it up.

As far as I remember modbot is something mods use when on mobile, since there's some weird issues with using a regular mod account on the mobile site.

And OP I personally wouldn't have created this thread before you heard from a mod. The original was probably closed for a reason.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

Everyone is over this type of nonsense, which is why there was barely a whimper that Sony had moneyhatted Kojima Production's first game

Kojima received offers from other publishers and determined that Sony was the best one to work with.

 

[EvB]

Kojima received offers from other publishers and determined that Sony was the best one to work with.

How is that different to this situation?

 

[family_guy]

I'm a fan of the Uncharted series, but I'm sick of hearing about Uncharted 4 being a deterrent. It's assumed that people wouldn't buy both if they came out at around the same time. Have faith in your own game and stop being afraid of other products.

 

[Kralamoonard]

And OP I personally wouldn't have created this thread before you heard from a mod. The original was probably closed for a reason.

Yeah I understand, but the reason that was mentioned by Modbot didn't really make sense (as there was no dedicated thread to the news), and I did message Modbot and another Mod on Wednesday to understand. I waited and waited, but there was no reply and there still isn't any reply as of now so I just decided to make the thread with a message at the top :/

 

[8bit]

It'll still be a great game when it is released on PS4, and if anyone deprives themselves of the experience due to a perceived slight committed by a corporation then that's your choice.

 

[Elios83]

I don't think there's much more to say about this.
Deals are made continuously in the industry. Some of them are successful and some are not.
This deal just didn't work. Microsoft paid money for a game that no one wanted to buy on their console, Square Enix has damaged the brand and ruined the work they did to reboot the series with a commercially successful title.
Some aspects go beyond simple miscalculation right into stupidity (delaying the PS4 version even further), but damage is done.

 

[Nightengale]

Mismanagement and poor business decisions. Happen more often than they should in any business.

 

[Hamster Plugin]

How is that different to this situation?

Sony is funding the Kojima Productions game. It would not exist at all if Sony didn't fund it, or it could be another game entirely if another publisher funded it (EA could demand microtransactions for example).

Square Enix funded RotTR. It would exist whether Microsoft paid money or not. MS just paid money to keep the game away from other platforms for a while.

 

[geordiemp]

Delayed just so it was allowed to be announced...what a load of tosh!

Never heard such stupid reasoning in my life for a delay. Fitting a Square peg in a round hole indeed.

Yeah thats my problem with this rumour, its not logical to be allowed to announce it is coming to Ps4 but adding another 6 months onto the date.

If its not fully exclusive to Xb1 then everybody and their dog knows its either 6 or 12 months.

 

[GOOCHY]

Everyone is over this type of nonsense, which is why there was barely a whimper that Sony had moneyhatted Kojima Production's first game

What does one have to do with the other? Not being snarky, serious question.

Still looking for an answer to this one...

 

[mejin]

How is that different to this situation?

No lies involved.

 

[gcubed]

Still looking for an answer to this one...

He obviously doesn't know considering the follow up

 

[Lucreto]

I am finding it difficult in believing it to be true.

We all knew it was timed so I don't see why revealing it will appear on other consoles earlier and extending the exclusivity actually help the game.

If it was 3-6 months like it says it would have appeared the same time as Uncharted 4 the very game that MS wanted to combat. The game would have had a fighting chance if it released before Uncharted in February or waited until June when people have moved on. But delaying it to November will kill a lot of potential sales they would have gotten if it released earlier. The big title next year could be Mass Effect along with another Assassin's Creed and Cod the game will disappear again.

The game itself reviewed well and looks amazing but all the behind the scenes stuff was completely mismanaged from reveal all the way to now. I think SE and Microsoft need to sit down and just draw a line under it and just release the game on PC and PS4. At this stage it will only hurt the IP and future sales.

 

[ZeroX03]

How is that different to this situation?

Square Enix didn't need money to start a studio and launch a new IP. Kojima choosing a lower risk option with people he's know for decades isn't a bad call. It's certainly smarter than the TR deal...

 

[Triggerhappytel]

Everyone is over this type of nonsense, which is why there was barely a whimper that Sony had moneyhatted Kojima Production's first game

Funding a game from its inception is not the same as paying for a game already in development to not come to certain platforms.

 

[lukeskymac]

I'm a fan of the Uncharted series, but I'm sick of hearing about Uncharted 4 being a deterrent. It's assumed that people wouldn't buy both if they came out at around the same time. Have faith in your own game and stop being afraid of other products.

Fallout 4 would like a word with you...

 

[travisbickle]

How is that different to this situation?

This topic is about a possible renegotiation on the amount of months SE were willing to delay their game from the PS4. Do people still believe MS helped with the development or production or changed the existence of Tombraider?

 

[eshwaaz]

Sucks that the ones who suffer the most from this botched deal are the actual developers.

My thoughts, exactly. Crystal D made a fantastic game (one of the best action/adventures ever, IMO), but no one is playing it because two huge companies made terrible decisions. Utterly depressing.

 

[TyrantII]

Everyone is over this type of nonsense, which is why there was barely a whimper that Sony had moneyhatted Kojima Production's first game

How do you moneyhat a studio that doesn't even exist yet?

Sonys funding him to set up a studio and produce a game that doesn't even exist yet. Of course they are going to get dibs on it. That ain't moneyhatting. That's literally funding development.

 

[nakedeyes]

What?? How is this even news? About a week after the XBONE exclusivity was announced, they caved and said Q1 2016 for PC, Q4 2016 for PS4. This has been known for a long time.

Anyone who thought that it would hit Q1/Q2 for PS4 didnt get that info from any sort of official source.

Probably why the thread was closed? This is non news. Don't really need the fucking block of disclaimer text for this.

(Note: I sympathize, I wanted to play it on PS4 as well. The knowledge that they had already said it would be another year for the PS4 version, is why I just but on the XBONE one )

 

[nakedeyes]

To back me up: a 2 second search shows this info hit in July.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/7/23/9023339/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-ps4-windows

 

[Kezen]

I don't know how they could think that releasing the same day as Fallout 4 was sensible.

No doubt the game is one of 2015's finests, it deserved better than being sent out to die, crushed under the weight of Fallout 4.

What?? How is this even news? About a week after the XBONE exclusivity was announced, they caved and said Q1 2016 for PC, Q4 2016 for PS4. This has been known for a long time.

You are confused. The timed exclusivity was announced in August 2014, the PC/PS4 versions were announced in July 2015.

 

[Lady Gaia]

lol. why would microsoft agree to that? delaying it to q4 doesn't seem helpful at all when people now know about it coming out to the other platforms

Timed exclusivity does work, as evidenced by the fact that platforms keep pursuing the strategy. Microsoft was getting a lot of bad word of mouth around the deal too, so by extending the console exclusivity window and ending the speculation you could argue they got two things they got two things they wanted.

 

[oti]

One of the best games of the year was mismanaged by the morons at Square, and the same idoits who nearly destroyed the Xbox brand at the reveal of their current gen console.

There's no conspiracy here, just a bunch of people who have no idea what they're doing half the time.

I can see MS people trying to get something as Uncharted-like as possible and SE people trying to get as much money as possible out of their investment.

I'm not saying it was smart but I can see the idea here.

 

[Nightengale]

The timed exclusivity was announced in August 2014, the PC/PS4 versions were announced in July 2015.

They refused to acknowledge it as a timed exclusive until July 2015, using every word possible except "timed"

 

[Monty Mole]

Uncharted and TR are very different games. I can understand the environmental similarities between Uncharted: DF and the original TR games, but they've both very much gone in their own directions since then.

Seems silly to have them trying to avoid each other all the time.

 

[TyrantII]

What?? How is this even news? About a week after the XBONE exclusivity was announced, they caved and said Q1 2016 for PC, Q4 2016 for PS4. This has been known for a long time.

Anyone who thought that it would hit Q1/Q2 for PS4 didnt get that info from any sort of official source.

Probably why the thread was closed? This is non news. Don't really need the fucking block of disclaimer text for this.

(Note: I sympathize, I wanted to play it on PS4 as well. The knowledge that they had already said it would be another year for the PS4 version, is why I just but on the XBONE one )

The news isn't the release date. The news is money changed hands / a contract was renegotiated so squinex could even talk about the PC/PS4 version, at the cost of delaying the PS4 a year.

I don't know about you, but thats news to me.

 

[black070]

Uncharted 4 would and will quite frankly eat Rise of the Tomb Raider.

 

[Elios83]

What?? How is this even news? About a week after the XBONE exclusivity was announced, they caved and said Q1 2016 for PC, Q4 2016 for PS4. This has been known for a long time.

Anyone who thought that it would hit Q1/Q2 for PS4 didnt get that info from any sort of official source.

Probably why the thread was closed? This is non news. Don't really need the fucking block of disclaimer text for this.

(Note: I sympathize, I wanted to play it on PS4 as well. The knowledge that they had already said it would be another year for the PS4 version, is why I just but on the XBONE one )

Emm no the deal was announced in August 2014.
You're a year off

And no initially Microsoft wanted to pretend it was a permanent exclusive, let alone annoucing other versions with their release dates

 

[ElCidTmax]

These moves have probably caused them to lose some momentum with the franchise, which should have been their top concern as the first reboot didn't sell all that well, You really need to maximize sales in this genre, so having a big gap between releases will likely cause people to stop caring.

This genre isn't a huge seller, even for Uncharted (although I think Uncharted 4 will be 2x any previous Uncharted.

http://www.********.com/gamedb/?name=tomb+raider+(2013)

http://www.********.com/gamedb/?name=uncharted

 

[LordBaztion]

I understand the exclusivity deal been made long time age, when UC4 was still coming on holiday this year and FO4 wasn't announced. It made sense that MS, after the success of 2014 holiday sale, with the AC bundle, would repeat the manouver with ROTR this year but none of this happened.

UC4 got delayed so there was that market avaliable (though I doubt CD could have get all 3 version ready by this year without an external help), FO4 was announced and MS set the release date between it and BO3. Finally MS made their Gears their basic bundle this year. I understand the game not being ready before november (though it probably would have been better an earlier unpolished game) but I think MS dropped the ball by not making of ROTR bundle what the AC bundle was last year. Also all the hype machine went to Halo leaving ROTR with nothing. Probably instead of hyping Halo to death, they should have hyped the X1 to death with Halo and ROTR at the forefront. It didn't help either that MS had a marketing deal with Bethesda for FO4 which probably dates from even before the curent gen announcement based on the rumors of the game being exclusive early this gen and their close relationship with Bethesda.

 

[gcubed]

To back me up: a 2 second search shows this info hit in July.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/7/23/9023339/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-ps4-windows

Right, so you were wrong in your original post and then didn't read the op about the extra delay before announcement

 

[Kezen]

They refused to acknowledge it as a timed exclusive until July 2015, using every word possible except "timed"

Actually Spencer confirmed the deal "had a duration" soon after the announcement.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-08-13-microsoft-confirms-rise-of-the-tomb-raider-xbox-exclusivity-deal-has-a-duration

So we knew the game would eventually hit other platforms, the question being when. Myself I speculated a one year window, and was pleasantly surprised when the PC version was announced as coming out "early 2016".
I was ready to wait a full year in any case.

 

[Nightengale]

Actually Spencer confirmed the deal "had a duration" soon after the announcement.

Deal had a duration
I didn't buy the franchise
It's similar to Ryse and Dead Rising 3

People who can read between the lines can tell it's effectively a timed exclusive.

But they would not actually use the word "timed exclusive"

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

Basicly they signed a exclusive deal to avoid uncharted 4 to release it a fair few months later.

Uncharted 4 got pushed back to around the time they planned to launch Tomb Raider making them extend the deal to acoid it again.

That's what i think anyway.

 

[ekgrey]

Wait, regardless of the timeline, I think that other poster was right. We knew that RotTR was coming to PS4 a full year after XO. There were some serious GAF meltdowns over it; nobody could believe it. The PC version was announced to be coming far earlier, which still seems to be the case. The bit about the contract having to be renegotiated is new to me, but we've known about the year of console exclusivity for ages.

 

[Kralamoonard]

What?? How is this even news? About a week after the XBONE exclusivity was announced, they caved and said Q1 2016 for PC, Q4 2016 for PS4. This has been known for a long time.

Anyone who thought that it would hit Q1/Q2 for PS4 didnt get that info from any sort of official source.

Probably why the thread was closed? This is non news. Don't really need the fucking block of disclaimer text for this.

(Note: I sympathize, I wanted to play it on PS4 as well. The knowledge that they had already said it would be another year for the PS4 version, is why I just but on the XBONE one )

To back me up: a 2 second search shows this info hit in July.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/7/23/9023339/rise-of-the-tomb-raider-ps4-windows

Right... so how about you read the OP first before you jump the gun and start spewing crap? Like the posters replied to you, this is about a RENEGOTIATION of the contract, inducing an extra delay than what was previously announced/believed to be; there was a change in the deal, like what the OP is saying. We didn't know about this until the NPD thread 8 days ago. This isn't about the general timed exclusivity announcement.

Wait, regardless of the timeline, I think that other poster was right. We knew that RotTR was coming to PS4 a full year after XO. There were some serious GAF meltdowns over it; nobody could believe it. The PC version was announced to be coming far earlier, which still seems to be the case. The bit about the contract having to be renegotiated is new to me, but we've known about the year of console exclusivity for ages.

Aaand the bolded is what the thread is about which no one knew apart from those who were on the NPD thread a few days ago. I advise that people read the OP

 

[Plague Doctor]

I understand the exclusivity deal been made long time age, when UC4 was still coming on holiday this year and FO4 wasn't announced. It made sense that MS, after the success of 2014 holiday sale, with the AC bundle, would repeat the manouver with ROTR this year but none of this happened.

UC4 got delayed so there was that market avaliable (though I doubt CD could have get all 3 version ready by this year without an external help), FO4 was announced and MS set the release date between it and BO3. Finally MS made their Gears their basic bundle this year. I understand the game not being ready before november (though it probably would have been better an earlier unpolished game) but I think MS dropped the ball by not making of ROTR bundle what the AC bundle was last year. Also all the hype machine went to Halo leaving ROTR with nothing. Probably instead of hyping Halo to death, they should have hyped the X1 to death with Halo and ROTR at the forefront.

My own post mortem take was that MS squandered their money and received negative PR to top it all off. They spent vastly more of their marketing dollars to promote and bundle multiplatform games (from the amazing like Fallout 4 in 2015 to the not so great like Unity in 2014) and both were ultimately more effective than ROTR even though also seeing a release on PS4/PC.

Next time if you are going to brave the negative backlash and pay for exclusivity, support the damn game when it counts.

 

[BokehKing]

Everyone is over this type of nonsense, which is why there was barely a whimper that Sony had moneyhatted Kojima Production's first game

He wanted to work in a comfortable work environment, if you think Sony offered more money than anyone else you really don't get what dude was going through at Konami

 

[gcubed]

Basicly they signed a exclusive deal to avoid uncharted 4 to release it a fair few months later.

Uncharted 4 got pushed back to around the time they planned to launch Tomb Raider making them extend the deal to acoid it again.

That's what i think anyway.

At that point there really was no reason not to give MS a few more months. If there whole reason was to avoid uncharted then their spring release date wasnt going to work either

 

[Kezen]

Deal had a duration
I didn't buy the franchise
It's similar to Ryse and Dead Rising 3

People who can read between the lines can tell it's effectively a timed exclusive.

But they would not actually use the word "timed exclusive"

"Has a duration", to me very much says it is a timed exclusive. Dead Rising 3 and Ryse eventually released on PC.

Everyone will get to play this game at some point, but it's unfortunate it turned out that way. The goodside I suppose is that Square Enix will have to come up with a very attractive proposition to withstand fall 2016's blockbusters, and I do not believe they will ignore the PC market expectancy either. A mundane PC version will probably not cut it.

 

[Conduit]

Sucks that the ones who suffer the most from this botched deal are the actual developers.

Yeah! CD's CEO really suffered from that deal.

 

[Wereroku]

Yeah! CD's CEO really suffered from that deal.

Did the guy claiming it was CD that pushed for the MS exclusive ever get checked out by Bish?

 

[Nightengale]

"Has a duration", to me very much says it is a timed exclusive. Dead Rising 3 and Ryse eventually release on PC.

There were a sizable number of people who thought that when Spencer made comparisons to Ryse/DR3, he meant that it would never come to PS4, since Ryse/DR3 are console exclusive to Xbox.

Which was foolish because MS had no qualms refuting the possibility of certain exclusives ever coming to PS4 (Titanfall was proudly touted to never come to PS4 by MS).

I'm just saying what some people thought, and how MS framed their PR lines to avoid using the word timed.

To further that point, Crystal Dynamics had to reword his original "timed" language to "duration" when making references to Spencer's statement.

 

[LordBaztion]

Maybe MS plan was to damage the franchise so badly that, to make a worthy succesor, CD/SE would necesary need external help and MS will have TR3 exclusively, lol.

My own post mortem take was that MS squandered their money and received negative PR to top it all off. They spent vastly more of their marketing dollars to promote and bundle multiplatform games (from the amazing like Fallout 4 in 2015 to the not so great like Unity in 2014) and both were ultimately more effective than ROTR even though also seeing a release on PS4/PC.

Next time if you are going to brave the negative backlash and pay for exclusivity, support the damn game when it counts.

well it makes sense for MS to want to sell more consoles with games that actually has the potential to appeal to a broader market like FO4 and they just said FU to SE/CD. It would piss off any developer.

 

[Kezen]

There were a sizable number of people who thought that when Spencer made comparisons to Ryse/DR3, he meant that it would never come to PS4, since Ryse/DR3 are console exclusive to Xbox.

Which was foolish because MS had no qualms refuting the possibility of certain exclusives ever coming to PS4 (Titanfall was proudly touted to never come to PS4 by MS).

I'm just saying what some people thought, and how MS framed their PR lines to avoid using the word timed.

To further that point, Crystal Dynamics had to reword his original "timed" language to "duration" when making references to Spencer's statement.

I can't fathom out how anyone could have interpreted that as the game never coming to PS4, from the very outset it was clear to me that PC/PS4 versions would become reality, but how much later was a big question mark.

 

[black070]

"Has a duration", to me very much says it is a timed exclusive. Dead Rising 3 and Ryse eventually released on PC.

The whole way the timed exclusivity has been handled is a total mess.

 

[SolidSnakex]

Did the guy claiming it was CD that pushed for the MS exclusive ever get checked out by Bish?

I'm not sure if bish ever saw the post. The concept does make sense. CD are very close to MS. The last game they made for a non-MS console was on the PS2. All of their games last gen were developed for the 360 and ported to other platforms by Nixxes. They've also had exclusive marketing deals and DLC deals since them on MS platforms. So in some ways you could say they've been working up to this.

 

[TyrantII]

I can't fathom out how anyone could have interpreted that as the game never coming to PS4, from the very outset it was clear to me that PC/PS4 versions would become reality, but how much later was a big question mark.

Because it took a few months before they ponied up and said so. Titanfall, Ryse, and Sunset all were announced exclusivity agreements and all only saw PC releases. Usually when something is timed, you get the announcement its coming to so and so first.

They were very careful to word their PR surrounding the deal to imply that, and after knowing that Titanfall went from a timed exclusive to full funding, it was possible. There were topics here on who thought it was timed vs locked down, because it wasn't initially clear at all.