"Rise of the Tomb Raider" was first announced that it will be an exclusive game for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Game developer Crystal Dynamics Xbox exclusive announcement did not sit well with the PS3 and PS4 owners. The upcoming "Tomb Raider" will soon be released during the 2015 holidays.
The decision to limit the availability of the "Rise of the Tomb Raider" to just one gaming console baffles the gaming community. In fact there are more PlayStation 4 consoles than Xbox One units sold in the market. In one IBT post, Sony Entertainment Systems claimed that they have sold over 10 million PS4 units since they started selling them, late last year. In contrast, around 5.3 million Xbox One consoles have been bought. This gives the PS4 almost 2 to 1 advantage over the Xbox One, in the number of units used by gamers worldwide. Ever since the "Tomb Raider" have first appeared, it has always been available to multiple platforms
Recent events have shown that the exclusive deal is not really that exclusive. The deal is actually a timed exclusive. It is expected that once the 2015 holiday ends, so will the exclusivity deal. Website stores are already offering pre-order sales for the PlayStation versions of the "Rise of the Tomb Raider." The pre-order offers have come out even before the Xbox One or Xbox 360 versions have yet to be released.
A Geek post speculated that the reason Microsoft is pushing for the exclusive deal, even a temporary one, is to drum up sales of their X-box One during the holidays. The company is probably hoping that they can tempt buyers to buy an Xbox One console with a "Rise of the Tomb Raider" game exclusive. However, with online stores now offering pre-orders for the upcoming game, Microsoft will have a harder job of convincing first time buyers to choose their Xbox One over PlayStation 4.
