Tomb Raider Finally Hits Profitability

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It took the latest version of Tomb Raider almost ten months (across three platforms) to finally break even. I guess that explains why the company is charging full price for the upcoming Definitive Edition...so they can finally make a little money for themselves. ;)

"As a franchise, Square Enix is clearly invested in us," Amos continued, batting aside the notion that Tomb Raider's sales had ever meant trouble for the series' future. "They already let us get kickstarted on a sequel and they backed us with this [the game's upcoming Definitive Edition]. "They've always been behind us, regardless of maybe what was said or how it was said in the press, and certainly at the end of the year we've actually gone over expectations because we've managed to get profitability back."
 
Good for them. I rather liked the new Tomb Raider, so I am please they broke even and we can now see a sequel.
 
The game was all about graphics, and lots of QTE gameplay. Yea, not surprised it did badly.
 
I really liked the game. For me the biggest downfall was the QTEs. I don't know a single person that likes those in an action game.

Overall though it was on par with other great single player games that was story driven like the current "greats" Uncharted and The Last of Us.
 
The game was all about graphics, and lots of QTE gameplay. Yea, not surprised it did badly.

It did "badly" because it is Tomb Raider with a massive budget. Tomb Raider may hold a special place in some people's hearts, but they were never great games. The last couple have been the best, TBH.
 
Really fun game, visually stunning and enjoyable combat, good plot so far. Glad to see they hit profit, well deserved.
 
It did "badly" because it is Tomb Raider with a massive budget. Tomb Raider may hold a special place in some people's hearts, but they were never great games. The last couple have been the best, TBH.

The last couple have been nothing but graphics show rooms. Tomb Raider games were actually good, but we're talking about Playstation days. Where level design and exploration was what set Tomb Raider apart from other games. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't her sex appeal.

Tomb_Raider_II.png
 
The last couple have been nothing but graphics show rooms. Tomb Raider games were actually good, but we're talking about Playstation days. Where level design and exploration was what set Tomb Raider apart from other games. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't her sex appeal.

Other than the first, second and Legend, they were pretty crappy games. The spinoff and the most recent game are usually rated on par with the first, or better.
 
Not an excuse to charge $60 for the "definitive edition" at all, but it's a good game and they deserve profit.
 
If they want to add some more profit they should bring these new enhancements with a couple of missions to the PC for a few extra $$.
 
If I wanted QTE's I'd play guitar hero or parappa the rapper.

Since I don't want QTE I refuse to buy a game that has them.

Not sure why so many games use them as I think its pretty unanimously hated.
 
I know squat about the gaming industry's finances.. but.. if the game sold for the first 3 months at $60 (like it did on Amazon.. I checked this via camelcamelcamel.com), and, according to the book of knowledge, Tomb Raider had sold 3.4 million by late March with another million sold by late August. If we assume the average selling price for the first 3 million was $60 and $40 for the next million, then $180 million plus $40 million equal $220 million. Not sure what the article's "break even of 5 million sold" works out to..if it is all 5 million selling at $60 or $300, that means that Square Enix's only gets back one third of the selling price. Doesn't seem like a good business to be in if the return rate is so small.
 
I really liked the story of this new Tomb Raider, and they did Lara very very well. I hope they make a sequel and continue the series.
 
I know squat about the gaming industry's finances.. but.. if the game sold for the first 3 months at $60 (like it did on Amazon.. I checked this via camelcamelcamel.com), and, according to the book of knowledge, Tomb Raider had sold 3.4 million by late March with another million sold by late August. If we assume the average selling price for the first 3 million was $60 and $40 for the next million, then $180 million plus $40 million equal $220 million. Not sure what the article's "break even of 5 million sold" works out to..if it is all 5 million selling at $60 or $300, that means that Square Enix's only gets back one third of the selling price. Doesn't seem like a good business to be in if the return rate is so small.

I paid $5 for the game. . . .soooo they would need to sell a crap ton to break even.

Also, what the hell is a QTE?
 
I paid $5 for the game. . . .soooo they would need to sell a crap ton to break even.

Also, what the hell is a QTE?

Quick time event. Basically playing DDR on your computer with your keyboard instead of shooting people.
 
Quick time event. Basically playing DDR on your computer with your keyboard instead of shooting people.

Never heard of it called QTE; it was always 'cut scenes'.
Pre-rendered videos that plays as you progressed from section to section in the game.

Ever notice in game ads for games these are what you see, usually not actual game play.
 
The game was excellent, the problem that killed their profitability was giving it away in the AMD (or was it NVidia) Video card bundles.

I personally bought it for $12 less than a month after it came out because of this (bought the code off ebay).

Good game, but they totally screwed themselves out of their own profits with this "deal".
 
This was one of those games that I thought looked fun but was already invested into some other game when it came out. I then picked it up a while back on a Steam sale. I do not remember what I paid for it but it was really cheap. So it sat there with a ton other games I have purchased on Steam on sale. I had the flu this past week and decided to give it a try. So far I have to say I am really enjoying it.
 
Never heard of it called QTE; it was always 'cut scenes'.
Pre-rendered videos that plays as you progressed from section to section in the game.

Ever notice in game ads for games these are what you see, usually not actual game play.

That's not what a quick time event is. QTE is a cut scene where it asks you to mash a button rapidly to "interact" with the scene.
 
Quick time event. Basically playing DDR on your computer with your keyboard instead of shooting people.

Gotcha, I actually just finished it yesterday, guessing thats when you have to hit a specific button at just the right time.
 
It was a fun game. The QTE's were only present in the parts of the game where you were temporarily on rails and they were fairly infrequent. If you missed out on this game because of a handful of quick times, you missed out on an outstanding experience overall.
 
Wtf is this QTE horseshit that is being spilled by ignorant people never playing the game. The whole game has no more than 5-6 QTE scenarios all of which are not more than 2 minutes. It is a fucking 10+ hour game and you are bothered about 12 minutes of gameplay?

Not sure which game you guys played :rolleyes:
 
That's not what a quick time event is. QTE is a cut scene where it asks you to mash a button rapidly to "interact" with the scene.

you HAD a spot on description until you went over the top and said "mash a button rapidly". A QTE just prompts you to do something at a specified time... Sometimes that could mean mash a button
 
you HAD a spot on description until you went over the top and said "mash a button rapidly". A QTE just prompts you to do something at a specified time... Sometimes that could mean mash a button

It's usually button mashing, but not always.
 
It's usually button mashing, but not always.
On the contrary, it is contextual buttons mostly and button mashing is minimum. God of War the pioneer of QTE, had more scenarios with contextual button presses than button mashing. Same with tons of console games that came after it. In Tomb Raider thought, most of the QTEs are button mashing based or atleast 50% of them are of the total of 5-6 that are there.
 
On the contrary, it is contextual buttons mostly and button mashing is minimum. God of War the pioneer of QTE, had more scenarios with contextual button presses than button mashing. Same with tons of console games that came after it. In Tomb Raider thought, most of the QTEs are button mashing based or atleast 50% of them are of the total of 5-6 that are there.

Most QTE I've encountered are of the button mashing variety, but I don't play console games. Batman AA/AC, The Witcher 2, Tomb Raider - all have button mashing.
 
Yes but as a ferocious hater of QTE if a game has it I don't pay money for it simple as that.

Put in QTE don't get my money. Even 1 QTE is 1 too many unless it is for comedic purpose like press X to bang the hooker in something like GTA.
 
QTE isn't a deal breaker for me. I don't like it, but as long as it is minimal and doesn't kill the rest of the game, I'll sometimes put up with it.
 
Yes but as a ferocious hater of QTE if a game has it I don't pay money for it simple as that.

Put in QTE don't get my money. Even 1 QTE is 1 too many unless it is for comedic purpose like press X to bang the hooker in something like GTA.

So in other words your ok with QTE in a completely idiotic childish shallow viewpoint? Ya ok, over under on this guys maturity age?
 
That's not what a quick time event is. QTE is a cut scene where it asks you to mash a button rapidly to "interact" with the scene.

OOh, gotcha. Yeah, those instances were pretty annoying.
Thought that "quick time" was referring to video.
 
So in other words your ok with QTE in a completely idiotic childish shallow viewpoint? Ya ok, over under on this guys maturity age?

You misunderstood my point and focused too much on my example. I'm fine with QTE as long as they are not part of the core game and are only used for idiotic and pointless parts of the game.....because QTE's are in themselves idiotic, childish, and pointless thus should only be used for idiotic, childish, and pointless parts of a game....Like banging a hooker till she catches a case of babies.

Asura's Wrath is a perfect example of a game that uses QTE as part of its core mechanics...and it ruins that game. A game like Shadow of the colossus is a far superior game because it uses actual gameplay instead of QTE.
 
It did "badly" because it is Tomb Raider with a massive budget. Tomb Raider may hold a special place in some people's hearts, but they were never great games. The last couple have been the best, TBH.

it did badly because I don't recall a single puzzle in that game that took any thought
 
You misunderstood my point and focused too much on my example. I'm fine with QTE as long as they are not part of the core game and are only used for idiotic and pointless parts of the game.....because QTE's are in themselves idiotic, childish, and pointless thus should only be used for idiotic, childish, and pointless parts of a game....Like banging a hooker till she catches a case of babies.

Asura's Wrath is a perfect example of a game that uses QTE as part of its core mechanics...and it ruins that game. A game like Shadow of the colossus is a far superior game because it uses actual gameplay instead of QTE.
That's not how your other posts came out. You were bashing Tomb Raider for QTEs and quoted as saying that even if there is 1 QTE, the game doesn't get your money.

Have you played Tomb Raider or are you just here to crap on a thread about a game that you don't like without even playing it and thinking that it has a case of QTE's as core gameplay (what an uninformed viewpoint I must add if that is the case)?
 
Never heard of it called QTE; it was always 'cut scenes'.
Pre-rendered videos that plays as you progressed from section to section in the game.

Ever notice in game ads for games these are what you see, usually not actual game play.

QTE has been around since Shenmue from Dreamcast. It's a way to incorporate a cut scene without letting the player just sit there and watch. And yes, it's called Quck Time Event. It's bad game design.

These sort of things are done better in game, where you can walk around and do what you want. If you want to watch, then stick around, otherwise move forward in the game. Half Life 2 is a good example of how to tell a story without requiring a cut scene. You're still in control of you character.

Shenmue.jpg
 
I thought this game sold fairly well? It must have cost a metric buttload to make.
 
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