Tomb Raider 'exceeded profit expectations'

Tomb Raider has now not only met its profitability goals, but exceeded expectations, according to studio head Darrell Gallagher. It's also on-track to become the franchise's top-seller.

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Sometimes games just need a little time. That's the lesson learned from Tomb Raider, apparently, which crossed from falling short of sales expectations at first to becoming profitable late last year. Now studio head Darrell Gallagher says it's not only become profitable, but gone above and beyond the forecasts.

"By the end of this month we will surpass 6 million units for our Tomb Raider reboot, and, having achieved profitability back in 2013 Tomb Raider has exceeded profit expectations and continues to make significant contributions to our overall financial performance," Gallagher said in an open letter (via Eurogamer). He also noted that it's now on its way to becoming the franchise's best-seller of all time. "This would be a crowning achievement for the teams around the world, and one that we have our sights firmly set on!"

Presumably, some of that sales momentum has come from the recently launched Definitive Editions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which scored roughly in the same generally positive range as their PC, PS3, and 360 counterparts.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 6, 2014 1:00 PM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Tomb Raider 'exceeded profit expectations'.

    Tomb Raider has now not only met its profitability goals, but exceeded expectations, according to studio head Darrell Gallagher. It's also on-track to become the franchise's top-seller.

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      March 6, 2014 1:06 PM

      99% sure we knew this when Square Enix was talking about it coming short. We knew it sold well and it was the highest selling Tomb Raider game in franchise history.

      I'm sure it's sold more since then, but this open letter right now seems strange.

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        March 6, 2014 1:33 PM

        [deleted]

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          March 6, 2014 1:40 PM

          Having too high of sales expectations hurst stock price, though.

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        March 6, 2014 2:01 PM

        Exactly ^^^ what a load of shit hey, they should of never bashed Sleeping Dogs, TR and Hitman all three of those games are ACE.

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          March 6, 2014 5:41 PM

          Actually just TR and Sleeping Dogs.

          Hitman Abs was a dumb-down.

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      March 6, 2014 1:07 PM

      Sequel please!

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        March 7, 2014 1:48 AM

        This. Tomb Raider was one of the best games I've played in years. Next time, though, more tombs! They were my favourite sections. They don't need to be the absolute focus of the game, but they certainly need to be more integral than they were.

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      March 6, 2014 1:35 PM

      It deserves to make them loads of money.

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      March 6, 2014 1:37 PM

      Guess this is a case where word of mouth really had a positive impact. Yet another Tomb Raider reboot wasn't really that big of a deal to most people, but as the word got out that it's actually a great game it's been picking up steam.

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      March 6, 2014 1:38 PM

      TR-only budget minus revenue, please. Did they saddle the sales target with FF losses?

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      March 6, 2014 2:10 PM

      Cool now they have lots of money they should make an actual Tomb Raider game.

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      March 6, 2014 5:42 PM

      Great game.

      Much better than BullShit Infinite.

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      March 6, 2014 8:20 PM

      Haha so 2 million more copies sold is the difference between falling short of expectations and a "crowning achievement"? Lol fucking publishers.

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        March 7, 2014 1:47 AM

        That's one third of total sales, so yes, easily.

        It's easy to hate, but remember that Square funded a massive team for four years and to get this game out the door. With that kind of investment, I'd be squirly about sales numbers as well.

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        March 7, 2014 4:29 AM

        Multiply that number by the retail cost. Even at a conservative $30/copy, that's $60 million.

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          March 7, 2014 12:06 PM

          I understand that 2 million is nothing to sneeze at. It's the silly investor-speak that irritates me. Surprise surprise, this well-reviewed game sold a third more copies since release, so now it's a "crowning achievement".

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          March 7, 2014 3:56 PM

          Is $30 really conservative? I know for movies retailers take 66% of the sale price, then you also have licensing fees on consoles. But yes, 2 million copies is easily the difference between success and "failure."

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        March 7, 2014 4:36 AM

        One third more sales can mean multiple times the profit. The game wasn't free to make.

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      March 6, 2014 10:22 PM

      So, will they take this that we like a string female protagonists with character development? Or will they just keep pumping out more TR games to make money?

      This TR was actually only borderline strong female character, some of the charters actions and motivations just didn't hold up. I did really like the early parts where Lara had to toughen up quick and became a real survivor.

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        March 7, 2014 4:11 AM

        It was incredibly shallow tbh. If you compare it to something like Ellie in The Last of Us. All the characters in Tomb Raider were forgettable, they just picked a bunch of stereotypes and wrote to type.

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          March 7, 2014 6:37 AM

          well sure.. if you compare it to the single greatest example of character development and story telling in gaming it might come up a bit short.

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          March 7, 2014 9:23 AM

          Yeah, most of the characters were quite shallow, and Lara spend most of the game in an "I'm scared" place. But, for about 10% of the game she showed strong character development.

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