Rise of the Tomb Raider to be Published by Microsoft

Update: EuroGamer followed up with Square Enix for a clarification. Square Enix have issued the following statement:

“Yes, Microsoft will be publishing Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox. Microsoft has always seen huge potential in Tomb Raider and they will get behind this game with more support across development, marketing and retail than ever before, which we believe will be a step in continuing to build the Tomb Raider franchise as one of the biggest in gaming.”

Original Story:

Microsoft revealed at Gamescom 2014 that Crystal Dynamics’ Rise of the Tomb Raider would be releasing exclusively in Holiday 2015 for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. It was later confirmed that the game would be a timed exclusive but how long this exclusivity would last wasn’t revealed.

Now, Xbox marketing manager Aaron Greenberg has tweeted that as far as the agreement between Microsoft and Square Enix goes, “Yes we are publishing Rise of the Tomb Raider.”

This is interesting because what does it say about how the game will be marketed and distributed for later consoles? It could be a situation similar to the first Mass Effect which was published by Microsoft on the Xbox 360 with future ports arriving via EA. We do have some context to the exclusivity deal for Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox now though.

What are your thoughts on this development? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.