Crystal Dynamics Boss Leaves

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You have to wonder why this guy would quit his job after ten years. The last two rebooted Tomb Raider games were developed under his direction and those were both really good. Unless he is opening his own studio or was offered more money somewhere else, it just seems like an odd time to leave.

“I want to thank [Darrell] for his tremendous effort and contribution to Square Enix, along with the amazing entertainment he has helped create,” Square Enix’s Western CEO Phil Rogers said. “I am sad to see him go but respect his decision and we should all celebrate the sheer blood, sweat and tears he has put into our company over the last ten years. “We are excited for him and his family on their next chapter. We wish them the best of luck in the future.”
 
Probably because the latest Tomb Raider tanked for sales and there is nothing in the pipeline for CD? That or they are shifting all their games to mobile and want someone who is more in tune with the mobile market vs the console market.
 
So either he OK'd the deal with MicroSoft or really upset about the deal with MicroSoft.
 
Bigdady92 said:
Probably because the latest Tomb Raider tanked for sales and there is nothing in the pipeline for CD? That or they are shifting all their games to mobile and want someone who is more in tune with the mobile market vs the console market.
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The last Tomb Raider was a fantastic game the only reason it "tanked" was because they put it up against Fallout 4 for the same release day. Had they delayed it 2 weeks I think they could've still made Black Friday and potentially doubled sales. If the release date was his decision that may have something to do with his departure. If it wasn't his choice and he fought it then that could also be a good reason to leave.
 
Not sure TR's marketing/exclusivity deal would fall under his authority.

Sounds like a job offer or possibly starting his own business to me. Lots of activity in developement studios currently.
 
Fanattic said:
The last Tomb Raider was a fantastic game the only reason it "tanked" was because they put it up against Fallout 4 for the same release day. Had they delayed it 2 weeks I think they could've still made Black Friday and potentially doubled sales. If the release date was his decision that may have something to do with his departure. If it wasn't his choice and he fought it then that could also be a good reason to leave.
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Isn't that game xb1 exclusive at the moment? I'm guessing that was the primary reason why it didn't sell well. Tomb Raider is not exactly the kind of game people would buy a xb1 just to play it.

I'll bet it's sale would have doubled at the least had it been available on PC and PS4 on release.
 
Hornet said:
Isn't that game xb1 exclusive at the moment? I'm guessing that was the primary reason why it didn't sell well. Tomb Raider is not exactly the kind of game people would buy a xb1 just to play it.

I'll bet it's sale would have doubled at the least had it been available on PC and PS4 on release.
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True but you still have 15 million potential customers on Xbox. Exclusives still sell millions of copies. Just not when they're released on the same day as a guaranteed 5 million copy seller. They knew they were limiting the market with an exclusive but they fucked up even worse with the release date.
 
Hornet said:
Isn't that game xb1 exclusive at the moment? I'm guessing that was the primary reason why it didn't sell well. Tomb Raider is not exactly the kind of game people would buy a xb1 just to play it.

I'll bet it's sale would have doubled at the least had it been available on PC and PS4 on release.
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Releasing your game on the same day as Fallout 4 is like releasing your movie on the same day as Star Wars lol. It's just idiocy.
 
Fanattic said:
True but you still have 15 million potential customers on Xbox. Exclusives still sell millions of copies. Just not when they're released on the same day as a guaranteed 5 million copy seller. They knew they were limiting the market with an exclusive but they fucked up even worse with the release date.
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I'd blame both, really. It was the perfect storm for a shitty release. As has been said, Tomb Raider isn't exactly a system seller. Launching only on Xbox had to hurt, a lot. It's not Halo. It doesn't have a long standing reputation with the Xbox crowd. The release date doesn't change the fact that there are millions of people waiting patiently for PC and PS4 releases. Releasing alongside Fallout 4 was no doubt stupid. That had to have an enormous impact on day/week one sales. But as the holiday season starts to wrap up in a few weeks, Tomb Raiders sales are still going to be bad, and that's going to have less to do with Fallout and more to do with the fact that most of us are just waiting for a better option.
 
Viper87227 said:
I'd blame both, really. It was the perfect storm for a shitty release. As has been said, Tomb Raider isn't exactly a system seller. Launching only on Xbox had to hurt, a lot. It's not Halo. It doesn't have a long standing reputation with the Xbox crowd. The release date doesn't change the fact that there are millions of people waiting patiently for PC and PS4 releases. Releasing alongside Fallout 4 was no doubt stupid. That had to have an enormous impact on day/week one sales. But as the holiday season starts to wrap up in a few weeks, Tomb Raiders sales are still going to be bad, and that's going to have less to do with Fallout and more to do with the fact that most of us are just waiting for a better option.
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Not only that but as an xbox one gamer, there has been a constant stream of AAA games flooding in since October, to the point where you really need to pick an choose what you're going to pickup at full retail price and what you're going to wait 2-3 months to get at 50% off. Tomb Raider is a single player game that doesn't *NEED* to be played during a multiplayer "season" like COD:BO3 or SW:BF or TC:RSS or Halo 5 or even Destiny. It's a bit overwhelming, and you really need to pick an choose were you're going to spend your money and time.

I loved the 2013 TR, but given fallout 4 or TR:ROTT plus deciding where to spend money on multiplayer titles... does anyone really have the time to play through 2 single player stories, and maintain a presence in a multiplayer fps? They should have pushed out TR:ROTT before fallout 4, and push that decision before people had a chance to choose one or the other. Failing that... a release before tom clancy's the division but after people are willing to start trading in fallout 4 and multiplayer titles to pickup new games before their "old games" lose more than 50% of their trade in value..
 
xaustinx said:
Not only that but as an xbox one gamer, there has been a constant stream of AAA games flooding in since October, to the point where you really need to pick an choose what you're going to pickup at full retail price and what you're going to wait 2-3 months to get at 50% off. Tomb Raider is a single player game that doesn't *NEED* to be played during a multiplayer "season" like COD:BO3 or SW:BF or TC:RSS or Halo 5 or even Destiny. It's a bit overwhelming, and you really need to pick an choose were you're going to spend your money and time.

I loved the 2013 TR, but given fallout 4 or TR:ROTT plus deciding where to spend money on multiplayer titles... does anyone really have the time to play through 2 single player stories, and maintain a presence in a multiplayer fps? They should have pushed out TR:ROTT before fallout 4, and push that decision before people had a chance to choose one or the other. Failing that... a release before tom clancy's the division but after people are willing to start trading in fallout 4 and multiplayer titles to pickup new games before their "old games" lose more than 50% of their trade in value..
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Yea, I have been in the same boat. Gotta pick between games and sadly TR didn't win over fallout even though I loved the previous one. Might have to wait for it to hit $30 which seems to happen often on the MS store with new games after a couple months.
 
I'd argue that TR 2 isn't even out yet. I don't own an Xbox One and I'm not buying one so it functionally isn't as far as I'm concerned. But now they'll have to sell it at a discounted rate on the other 2 systems. The whole timed exclusive thing is the real issue here (although launching against the biggest game so far this generation was also a terrible idea).

I'll pick up TR 2 when it hits $20-30, just like the last one, which I thought was the best Tomb Raider game ever, although I didn't like any of the other ones so take that as you will.
 
Quix said:
I'll pick up TR 2 when it hits $20-30, just like the last one, which I thought was the best Tomb Raider game ever, although I didn't like any of the other ones so take that as you will.
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This is my stance. I got TR1 for free as part of my Xbox LIve Gold membership. Played it straight through. Fantastic game, got rid of all the T&A elements that I loathed about TR as a whole (Yes she's covered in dirt and a size 1 but still better than the Daisy Dukes and cutoff shirt) and loved the game. The graphics on XB1 were fantastic and I actually gave a shit about the characters with there being a well written and cohesive story. Beat the game in a week because I couldn't put it down , it was that good.
 
Might have something to do with brilliant deal for exclusivity with Microsoft. I've seen some rumours of <200k debut month in USA
 
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