Lara Croft a four-week Xbox 360 exclusive

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 16 July, 2010

A requirement for Summer of Arcade games.

Downloadable Tomb Raider game Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will be exclusively available on the Xbox 360 for at least four weeks.

This is a requirement of all games that are a part of Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade promotion, Crystal Dynamics told Eurogamer in a new interview.

Guardian of Light will be released on Xbox Live on 18th August for 1200 Microsoft Points (£10).

Crystal Dynamics hopes the PC and PlayStation 3 versions of the game will be released on Steam and PlayStation Network respectively as soon as the window of exclusivity is up.

"As with all arcade titles, irrespective of platform, you have to go through your submissions before they agree and approve a date. Unlike a disc based title where we can pick our window, you have to go by what the first parties approve and give you a date, to make sure you're not coming out on the same day as five other titles. They like to manage the release window accordingly.

"We have requested a specific date and hopefully we'll get that and it's not too long after the 360 SKU.

"The agreement with Microsoft is, in order to participate in their hugely successful Summer of Arcade promotion, there is a window of exclusivity. That window of exclusivity is a set four weeks."

Other games in Microsoft's Summer of Arcade promotion include Limbo, due out on 21st July and Castlevania Harmony of Despair, which will be released on 4th August.

Crystal Dynamics hopes to have a release date for the PC and PS3 versions of Guardian of Light in "seven to 10 days".

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is Crystal Dynamics' first download-only game. The San Francisco developer took the reigns of the Tomb Raider franchise from Core Design after press mauled Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.

There's more on Lara Croft's new adventure over at our hands-on preview.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (18) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • GamerG #1 2 years ago

    Seems like a fair deal if you want to the promotion

  • myiagros #2 2 years ago

    Wow a developer who is open and honest about this sort of thing, what a refreshing change.

    I'll probably pick it up on PS3 once the exclusivity period is over.

  • kinky_mong #3 2 years ago

    Did Marvel Vs Capcom 2 have the same staggered release last year? I remember the demo for the PS3 version was released long before the 360 one.

  • Jonathan_Fakenham #4 2 years ago

    This game looks kinda neat, but I don't like that it's a Lara Croft game, even though I've always played the Tomb Raider games..

    I'll dip my toes in the trial first I guess.
    Edited by 1 at 16/07/10 @ 10:27

  • UncleLou #5 2 years ago

    What was that the other day with Microsoft bullshitting about the "big PC push"?

    Lol.

  • SHPanda #6 2 years ago

    I do wish MS would stop wasting money on timed exclusives like COD maps, GTA episodes and now this.

    Save all that money up (although the GTA episodes were probably enough alone) and buy out a decent developer to make your proper exclusive titles that will end up with great production values because they've been designed solely for the 360, just like what Sony have done with the likes of Naughty Dog and those folks who make Killzone.

    I do appreciate it when they get exclusives right, such as Gears of War, Forza and even third party exclusives like Splinter Cell, but MS are crying out for more first/second party exclusive dev teams.

    Note that this isn't an MS bashing post, I'm a big fan, in fact I've just un-boxed my shiny new 360.

  • Lee_Morris #7 2 years ago

    Well that's annoying. The ramp up for Christmas with at least Enslaved out by then and possibly Vanquish (if it doesn't slip) At least we'll get it eventually but I was looking to have this out in summer.

  • Geordiemp #8 2 years ago

    Well worded panda, nail on the head.

    Its a difficult one to say, as you can get negged to death. Fable is sort of in house, they could do with alot more.

    Maybe Kinect is sucking the in house studios efforts and probably has been for past 6 monbths or so ?

    Personnaly, owning both systems and a wii (LOL), I appreciate quality over quantity as there are almost too many games to even play never mind buy. But there are so few that really shake the boat like Mass effect 2 or Uncharted 2 that still make me smile.
    Edited by 1 at 16/07/10 @ 10:58

  • Johnson #9 2 years ago

    @panda

    They tried that. They bought probably the most respected and best selling 2nd party producer of software in the world at the time and it has delivered them nothing but disappointments ever since.

  • SHPanda #10 2 years ago

    @Johnson - While you have a point you have to remember Microsoft bought a heavily deflated Rare in 2002 at a point where the majority of the companies best employees had jumped ship to Free Radical over the previous three years.

    I think Rare has proven to be quite a good acquisition for MS though, Avatars for example have worked out well for them and no doubt made a fair bit of extra money for MS, Kinect which they have also been working on could prove to be successful yet also. Even the games they made (excluding PDZ) have been rather good, Kameo for example is a great game, the only problem is they launched them during the consoles infancy and they were games ill suited to a large majority of the current audience at the time.

    I don't think they should let what happened with Rare put them off, they just need to buy the correct dev team that hasn't passed it's peak. For example Respawn could have been a very tidy acquisition for them.
    Edited by 2 at 16/07/10 @ 11:32

  • muscleblade #11 2 years ago

    "Note that this isn't an MS bashing post, I'm a big fan, in fact I've just un-boxed my shiny new 360. "

    I know the feeling, just did it myself. I agree with the rest of your post too.

  • drumbaby #12 2 years ago

    Wasn't the last version of a TR game severely hobbled on the PS3, as in no DLC? Now this? Sorry but it can stay on 360. Not buying.

  • Dizzy #13 2 years ago

    "Save all that money up (although the GTA episodes were probably enough alone) and buy out a decent developer to make your proper exclusive titles that will end up with great production values because they've been designed solely for the 360, just like what Sony have done with the likes of Naughty Dog and those folks who make Killzone. "

    That is not the way MS works. They prefer to let others develop software for their platform, this way the devs are happier since they do not have to compete with first party stuff that gets "special" treatment. Why do you think almost ALL publishers are making games on 360 now (and usually loving it). Like on the Wii... first party seems to rule that one with an iron fist.

    Also MS is not spending money on this deal... it is just part of the "summer of arcade" deal where a publisher gets a lot of "free" publicity in exchange.
    Edited by 1 at 16/07/10 @ 13:25

  • FiZiE #14 2 years ago

    @Panda

    Um where did you read they were wasting money on this timed exclusive? Crystal Dynamics wanted the game to be a part of the summer of arcade promotion, and part of that deal is that the game has to stay 360 exclusive for 4 weeks. I don't see anywhere where it even implies that Microsoft "wasted" money by paying Crystal Dynamics off.

  • SHPanda #15 2 years ago

    @FiZiE You honestly don't reckon CD/Eidos/Squenix Europe said sure you can have our game as a timed exclusive for your summer promotion but it'll cost you $XXX?

  • FiZiE #16 2 years ago

    @Panda

    No I don't. Devs would be lining up to get their game in the Summer of arcade promotion because Microsoft market the hell out of it and the games perform best. If CD didn't want to play by the rules, m$ could have easily just chosen another game in its place from a developer who is willing to keep it timed exclusive.

    Such as Sega who is waiting with Crazy Taxi and Sonic Adventure. In fact, I would have much preferred Crazy Taxi to be out this summer than Tomb Raider.

  • TRUTH #17 2 years ago

    Couldn't careless about timed exclusives - it's sad for people who do!...MS have head up there as the dumbest money wasters and missed opportunities for proper exclusives.

  • monkeywithnoeyes #18 2 years ago

    @SHPanda,

    Just to get this clear, MS hasnt paid for this to be a timed exclusive, the developers have submitted it to be part of MS summer of arcade promotions...which comes with the catch of being a timed exclusive. It's cost MS nothing. And it gets the developers better promotion of their game.. which is why they've gone for it.

  • shawnlee100 #19 1 year ago

    Just to get this clear, MS hasnt paid for this to be a timed exclusive, the developers have submitted it to be part of MS summer of arcade promotions...which comes with the catch of being a timed exclusive. It's cost MS nothing. And it gets the developers better promotion of their game.. which is why they've gone for it.
    __________________________________
    70-452 | 70-580 | 70-519 | 70-660 | 70-652