Microsoft Confirms It’s Publishing Rise of the Tomb Raider

We already knew Rise of the Tomb Raider was going to be a Microsoft exclusive, but new details have us questioning whether or not we'll see the game on other platforms at all.

There have been a lot of rumors and controversy over the upcoming Tomb Raider title--fans want to know what consoles it will be for and it seems as though no one is giving them a straight answer. Back in August, we learned from Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, that while there was a Rise of the Tomb Raider exclusivity deal with Xbox, it wasn't indefinite. He hinted that after the deal ends, Square Enix would be free to do with the game what it wants. Spencer went on to say that the game will be launching in the 2015 holiday season for Xbox only, but again, that the exclusiveness isn't going to last forever. However, he didn't give a time frame on when the exclusivity deal would end, either.

It seems that just as the fans got most of their questions answered, more have popped up. What does this mean for other platforms that might want to take on the game after the exclusivity deal ends? It's rare for a company such as Microsoft to publish a game, and then allow it to be published elsewhere. Very few instances even spring to mind, and even those are more about games that were licensed (Viva Pinata on DS, the CD-i Nintendo games) and published by someone else (not Microsoft or Nintendo). Still, the rights to the Tomb Raider series still belong to Crystal Dynamics, but given the confusing mixed messages we've been given about Rise of the Tomb Raider since its announcement, it's hard to guess when and if it will come to other platforms.

The game still has about a year left until it's official release, so in the meantime we'll just have to sit back and watch the whole confusing mess play out.