What the hell is Crystal Dynamics thinking? After one of the most successful video game franchise reboots in history that played across multiple platforms they decide to sign with Microsoft and make Rise of the Tomb Raider not a timed exclusive but 100% exclusive to the Xbox One console. Does it make any sense financially to restrict this burgeoning super franchise to the console that, by the numbers, has sold significantly less? How about the fact that millions of people who played Tomb Raider on PS3 or the Definitive Edition on PS4 are now just left out in the cold?
When the term ‘console war’ first came to light at the beginning of this generation I laughed but in recent events and in actions from both sides of the Microsoft vs Sony fences it seems that’s exactly what is happening. The problem here is that while they fight amongst themselves the consumers are left as the unwilling participants. It’s as if consumers are the children in an ugly divorce and forced to play the game and pick sides even if they don’t really want to.
The sad reality is that while they fight there’s really nothing that can be done. One comment I saw regarding Tomb Raider this morning said ‘vote with your wallet’ and I had to laugh. If I have an Xbox One I’m buying the damn game. If I have a PS4 I DON’T HAVE A CHOICE. How am I going to vote with my wallet?
In the new generation of consoles Sony made the first power move by locking up content on Destiny for over an entire year. Now Microsoft ups the ante by locking up an entire franchise. As the stakes get higher the fighting will get nastier and unless you open your wallets to buy both consoles you’ll eventually be left out in the cold with something. As a gamer I love competition because it forces each company to push the limits of what they can do to bring better products to the table. Competition breeds excellence! What I don’t like is consumers being played as pawns in greedy corporation’s bids for our dollar in low brow ways. In my humble opinion taking away the Tomb Raider franchise from the PS4 faithful is a bad move and flat out unfair. You don’t just take a multi-platform franchise and lock it up to a single platform like that. I mean sure it’s been done before but I still don’t like it.
That being said I’m still going to be purchasing it for my Xbox One because I want to play great games and I think that Crystal Dynamics is going to bring another awesome Tomb Raider experience. Perhaps now I’ll just put out the open invite to any of my spurned PS4 friends to come on over for a good old fashioned game night. Through all of this I can’t help but wonder what will happen next though? What’s the next power move and which set of console faithful will suffer? Only time will tell but it’s going to be an interesting next few years if what we’re seeing now is only the beginning.
What are your thoughts on the Tomb Raider deal? What do you think is in store for gamers as this ‘console war’ trudges on?
