Crystal Dynamics, the developer of most of the
Tomb Raider games took a leap of faith with the reboot. After a rather disappointing
Underworld it became clear that the series needs a fresh start and the old formula is over. And so it changed. The gamers had to say goodbye to the Lara they've known and welcome a new, more fragile and inexperienced Ms. Croft.
That strategy definitely paid off, as the 2013
Tomb Raider sold more than eleven million copied worldwide.
Rise of the Tomb Raider, the 2015 sequel also doesn't disappoint, as it nears seven million units. So why does Square Enix, the series' publisher complains about the results? It's been clear that when
Tomb Raider came out, Square has been in a difficult position. Yosuke Matsuda, the company's CEO confirms that theory in a new interview:
There are actually lots of misunderstandings here. First of all, Tomb Raider is a very important title and very important piece of IP for us, and nothing has changed about that. The fiscal year prior to the one where I became president [in 2013] was one where overall our earning numbers were not very good. It was immediately before the end of that fiscal year, in March, that Tomb Raider came out so we had very high expectations for that. Looking back on that now, I think the target we set for ourselves was extremely high. I say this with the benefit of hindsight now, but at the time our numbers leading up to the release of Tomb Raider had been very poor and I think our people were probably banking on that and wondering how much it was going to help our final earnings. In the end, it didn't quite sell as much as we had anticipated."
We should definitely expect another
Tomb Raider, but Crystal Dynamics might be busy working on that secret Marvel project. Well, the fans always can await the adventures of Ms. Croft on the big screen:
Warner Bros.'
Tomb Raider releases on March 14, 2018.