The Shamus Showcase: Why an Xbox Exclusive Tomb Raider Matters

Dawn of the Rise of the Planet of the Xbox.

Notoriously known for housing the mobs of Call of Duty players, as well as any console multiplayer focused gamer, Microsoft seems to be taking the initiative to broaden their variety of games. Aside from the indie craze that is flooding current-gen consoles, the games revealed at E3 were not the usual point and click shooters that thrive on Xbox.

A mix of RPG’s, platformers, and Kinect based games helped throw off what consumers are accustomed to seeing from Microsoft. Fast-forward to Gamescom 2014, and you have a similar situation, except this time the Rise of the Tomb Raider trailer ended with “Exclusively on Xbox”.

An Xbox exclusive Rise of the Tomb Raider is surprising, especially after the release of Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition on both PS4 and Xbox One. What at first seemed to be timed-exclusive DLC on Xbox One has turned into a full-fledged exclusive game. I’m assuming that this deal was hashed out recently over the last few months, otherwise it would have been revealed at E3.

“So what? Who cares if Tomb Raider is only on Xbox?” The people migrating from last-gen to current-gen will take this into account. The casual gamer who has not played video games since the original Playstation era will see Lara Croft in green casing and pick up an Xbox One out of familiarity. Anyone who enjoyed any Tomb Raider game would be interested in an Xbox One. Tomb Raider, and Lara Croft are household names today thanks to both the game series and the Angelina Jolie live-action movies. Because of its wide appeal, this is a smart franchise to invest in.

But don’t confuse my hype as ignorance. I am not saying that this is what puts Xbox in everyone’s home. It won’t single-handedly destroy all of Microsoft’s competitors. This is just a great title to have as an exclusive because of its legacy. Essentially, this is Microsoft’s answer to Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series on PlayStation (which draws from the original Tomb Raider franchise). Will it be better than Uncharted 4? I doubt it; Naughty Dog is hard to beat. But I can assure you that Rise of the Tomb Raider will be a game worth picking up at the end of 2015.

On a side note, the exclusive nature of Rise of the Tomb Raider is still in question. It is not known if this is a timed-exclusive or not. As of now, it seems that it will stay on Xbox, but new information can change things down the line. Because of this possibility, we cannot say that Microsoft will have exclusive rights to future Tomb Raider titles. But I would not be surprised if they tried to hold onto the rebooted franchise, it would be a step in the right direction.

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