Following the Xbox One exclusivity announcement at GamesCom in August by both Square Enix and Microsoft, it looks like Microsoft, and not Square Enix, will be publishing Rise of the Tomb Raider. Microsoft Games Marketing head Aaron Greenberger confirmed it by responding to a tweet, “Yes we are publishing Rise of Tomb Raider.”
Rise of the Tomb Raider is slated to be released for the 2015 holiday season. Microsoft seemingly made the deal in order to compete with the PS4 in the action game genre. PS4’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is being released sometime in 2015. So, it is possible that Rise of the Tomb Raider will be Xbox One’s answer to PS4’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.
However, Xbox head Phil Spencer added that the exclusivity deal had an expiration date, but has not indicated on when or what the expiration date involved. Some other Xbox One launch games like Dead Rising 3 and Ryse released to the PC a year after their original release. As a result, Rise of the Tomb Raider may meet the same fate, or possibly go multi-platform.
