Rise of the Tomb Raider Is An Xbox One EXCLUSIVE

Shots fired!  Microsoft are rolling out new game demos and announcements this morning at Gamescom over in Germany.  There are several pre-existing titles getting new looks, however Microsoft had promised something pretty significant in terms of announcements that we didn’t see coming.  The sequel to Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider reboot, Rise of the Tomb Raider, will be coming to Xbox One during the holiday season of 2015 as an exclusive.  You read that right, the formerly-multiplatform action/adventure game (which was also a PlayStation exclusive during its first few iterations) will not be available on any of Sony’s consoles.  Microsoft are definitely pushing hard and throwing money at their console to sway gamers on the fence toward their new Xbox One.  Picking up a Tomb Raider exclusive is one way to earn some much-needed game library bolstering.

Microsoft Updates 2013 Xbox One Sales, Xbox 360 Still Popular

Last we heard, Microsoft had reported selling “over 3 million Xbox One consoles” before the end of the year.  Microsoft have just now released their quarter 4 revenues and profits.  One note of incredible interest is the new report of sold Xbox One units, which now totals 3.9 million consoles.  Originally it was thought Sony had really gotten off to a great start with a 1 week advance and a more widely available console across the world.  That gap was almost extinguished with this new report, now leaving the difference of a mere couple hundred thousand units.  Sony still has the lead as the end of 2013 but given that Sony was in significantly more markets the lead is less impressive than once thought.  This should come as no surprise given the Xbox One being the best selling console in the United States, a battleground that it has long dominated in the games console market these past several year.

Another note of interest was the Xbox 360 and its sales performance.  Microsoft reported that not only did they move 3.9 million Xbox One consoles, but in Q4 of 2013 (October-December) the Xbox 360 sold a whopping 3.5 million consoles.  That’s an incredible number given that consumers had a huge selection of consoles and portables to choose from (360, XB1, PS3, PS4, Wii, Wii U, DS, 3DS, etc).  The 360 drastically outsold the PS3 but the exact difference in sales is not yet known.  The only figure available to gauge at the moment still is the Black Friday sales, where the XB1 and 360 both doubled the sales of their direct competing devices (though the 360 also doubled the sales of the PS4 in the US on that day).  This will give the Microsoft Xbox fanboys a bit of wind in their sales, but it gives a little more credit to Microsoft and the vision of Xbox One being a massive appeal device.  The XB1 was launched in only 13 markets and remains in only 13 markets for the time being, whereas Sony reported being in 52 countries at this time.  Microsoft has said they’re catching up to demand with higher volumes of console production and thus should allow them to open up to all their intended markets in the coming months.