Crystal Dynamics has discussed in an open Q&A with the press why Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition is retailing at the full price of $ 59.99 when it arrives for Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
In particular, the point of contention for many fans was the fact that the game was coming without extra content on single player, and is essentially just getting a graphical overhaul. It’s difficult to come up with a similar precedent, but perhaps to draw a point of comparison, let’s look at the port of Deus Ex: Human Revolution to Wii U. Dubbed the Director’s Cut, it came a few years after the original, and was loaded with content, including commentaries and integrated ‘Missing Link’ DLC. Square Enix also charged full price for the game, but were able to justify themselves with the game’s polish and extras.
Crystal Dynamics’ Executive Producer Scot Amos took to the firing squad for this one, and we’ll share his response verbatim below:
It’s a great question and while I don’t control sales or prices, what I do know is that Tomb Raider is an awesome game. It has received many nominations and has an amazing fan base that keeps us striving to always deliver the best and always pushing ourselves to even do better. If it was “only a facelift” AND we were only reselling it on the same platforms we’d already shipped it on, I would see your point. But as we’re selling it on a new platform, with a lot of development work put in to custom craft it for the new platforms; with the new additions for the aesthetic, the physics, the particles, the lighting – taking advantage of next-gen features – so I absolutely stand by our decision to offer up Definitive Edition the way we are. We’d love for every Tomb Raider fan to get to experience it on next-gen. We are definitely looking to draw in those folks who may not have experience it yet on the last generation so they can experience this version on next-generation. But even for existing hardcore fans, we are confident in the offering we have as an excellent enhanced experience above and beyond what we’d previously provided. We wouldn’t bring it to you all if we felt otherwise. You are the reasons we do what we do.Are you satisfied by the response? I’m not sure I would be, but I do think Square is looking to recoup their losses from the game not meeting initial sales expectations, especially after the last difficult fiscal year. With this in mind, it should be no surprise that they intend to charge full price for this game, with hopes that next gen hype will be enough to raise Tomb Raider’s sales to give them something good to report this coming March 31, 2014.
Honestly, I am not quite sure if Square Enix is in the right or in the wrong in this regard, but I have another concern. This was probably in development for some time now, but all things considered, will Tomb Raider on PS4 and Xbox One match our graphical expectations? Or will it come with the compromises a multiplatform release seems to be cursed with, or with the lack of experience working on new hardware? I don’t mean to be so cynical, so here’s hoping Square Enix does good by fans with this game when it releases to the two console on January 28, 2014.
