Rise of the Tomb Raider’s Xbox Exclusivity Cost $100 Million for Microsoft

Do you think it was worth it?

by Franklin Bellone Borges
Rise of the Tomb Raider

It looks like Microsoft paid a staggering value of 100 million dollars for the timed exclusivity of 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider. The information came from the LinkedIn profile of Square Enix’s former Director of Strategic Planning Fabien Rossini, which clearly specified his involvement in the negotiation for the title’s exclusivity and revealed its value. The fact was pointed out by Twitter user Timur222.

It appears that the information was removed from Rossini’s profile on LinkedIn, but you can still check it out below, as it is featured in Timur222’s post on Twitter:

Even if extremely high, it is not uncommon for deals in the gaming scenery to spawn over this kind of value. A similar case was revealed last May, when, in the middle of the court dispute between Epic and Google, documents revealed that Epic paid a total of 115 million dollars for the exclusivity of 2K’s and Gearbox’s Borderlands 3.

Rise of Tomb Raider was first released in 2015, as a sequel to Crystal Dynamics’ 2015’s Tomb Raider, which rebooted the acclaimed franchise while also introducing new and improved mechanics to it. In Rise of Tomb Raider, we follow Lara, one year after the events of the previous game, as she unravels the mystery behind the Lost City of Kitezh, located in Siberia, and crosses paths with the ruthless Trinity organization. The title was then followed by the release of 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which was available for multiple platforms since its release.

You can play Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider right now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and on PC. You can also check out our review for Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration here.

About The Author

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Franklin is a writer and journalist. A video game fanatic with more than 3 years of experience, his work can also be seen on sites such as The Click, Games Atlas, and Try Hard Guides. When not writing, he is most likely making his wallet cry while playing Gacha Games or ending the reign of the Crystals in Final Fantasy XVI.