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Tomb Raider Sets Franchise Sales Records

by Kyle Hilliard on March 30, 2013 at 05:16 PM

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Tomb Raider released with the best first week sales of any game in the franchise. So far, it has also had the biggest opening of 2013. Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher and creative director Noah Hughes shared Tomb Raider's sales numbers recently at a panel at GDC.

Square Enix's now former CEO, Yoichi Wada, recently stepped down from the company citing poor sales of games like Hitman: Absolution, Sleeping Dogs, and Tomb Raider.

Hughes told Joystiq, when asked about Square Enix's insistence that the game was not performing well, "Certainly we're proud of what we achieved, and I think for the most part, the whole organization is happy with what we did." Gallagher said, "Actuals and expectations, I guess, are two slightly different things. What I'm telling you is the actuals, and they're communicating expectations."

As of March 26, Tomb Raider had sold 3.4 millions copies. Tomb Raider released on March 5.

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Filed under: News, Square Enix, sales, Tomb Raider, Lara Croft

Comments

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by Ace Of The Saints Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 05:23 PM

hopefully they're able to reach their goal they set, though it is pretty high, so they probably shouldn't hold their breath or anything, but either way I really enjoyed the game, and hope to see a sequel!!
by MorkaiAU Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 05:29 PM

Maybe the sales figures should start incorporating digital figures... Everyone I know with the game on PC (around a dozen people) bought it digitally via Steam or a cd key site, so they're potentially missing thousands of units off their figures.
by Warrior Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 05:30 PM

The game is pretty freaking good. It deserves the praise and recognition.
by Him Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 05:37 PM

All three of those games that the ex-CEO mentioned had bad sales are huge hits in the PC market. I can see them not being as big in the console market except Tomb Raider.

I got both Hitman and Sleeping Dogs through a promo on a GPU I bought a few months ago. Didn't try Hitman yet, but Sleeping Dogs was an average game I would say. After completing it, I would give it a 6.5

I do plan on getting Tomb Raider eventually. Since I feel no rush, I'm going to wait for the price to slash on Steam. The price should get to my liking during the inevitable holiday Steam sale that will happen again this year.
by Acekidder Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 05:39 PM

I thought i read square where in trouble because of much lower then expected sales of Tomb Raider and Hitman??. Glad for Tomb Raider success though it deserves it one hell of a good game and fantastic reboot/update.
by Antimuffin Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 05:40 PM

You know there is something wrong with the industry if 3,4 million sold copies in two weeks are considered as a flop.
by bloodspray51 Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 05:40 PM

Its hard to believe they would set such lofty goals on the Tomb Raider name which hasn't been very important this generation. Crystal Dynamics have impressed me enough to warrant a full price purchase from me so they can add one more sale to that total and i think they've earned every penny. Square really should lower the sales expectations bar unless they mean cumulative sales totals for all 3 games combined since Hitman and Sleeping Dogs didn't rock the market. In any case, they shouldn't be disappointed with Tomb Raiders sales individually. Either way, here is to a bright future for Crystal Dynamics and the great franchises of Square Enix.
by Lion Turtle Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 05:44 PM

I unfortunately did not buy Tomb raider. I rented it from GameFly and beat the story. The reason I did not buy the game is because I couldn't bring myslef to pay$60 for a brilliant single player experience that had a tacked on multiplayer, which was atrocious. If the game had been $50 for just the single player campaign and no multiplayer, I would have snatched it up in an instant.
by Atika Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 05:52 PM

SE expects too much from game franchises that aren't cod level famous or FF level famous.
Maybe they should have put some effort in 13 or stop making 13 sequels or actually release versus or FF15 whatever they call it nowadays or release FF agito instead of cancelling it or stop thinking of making more FF games or new game engines when you have other unfinished projects.
by jake gordon Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 06:01 PM

That sucks. I haven't played Tomb Raider, but Hitman and Sleeping Dogs were both excellent games, and deserve better sales. I'm glad Tomb Raider is selling well though.
by Justmike1227 Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 06:04 PM

If he is willing to give up on a game thats done 3.5 million units in its first 3 weeks, kind of curious how he stuck through FFXIV's initial release. Sleeping Dogs and Hitman I can understand, well Sleeping Dogs at least, haven't seen figures on Hitman. But Tomb Raider is considered a universal success and added some much needed depth to Lara Croft.
by SoulReaver9 Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 06:09 PM

Bring me back to life! I know you can do it CD
by Shrink Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 06:13 PM

Yet it's still considered a failure since the American branch of Square Enix is expected to make up for the wastefulness of the Japanese branch. Maybe if Square would stop throwing money at Final Fantasy games that might never see the light of day, SE wouldn't be in trouble.
by DeadBull Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 06:16 PM

Tomb Raider was a phenomenal experience. My only complaint is that the game lacks new-game+.
by Companion Cube Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 06:20 PM

"So far, it has also had the biggest opening of 2013." Only for a few more hours. Bioshock's week is about to end, and judging by what I've seen, many more people are buying that, myself included.
by Just a dude Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 06:22 PM

Still didn't make enough money. F**k AAA development
by Gene Jacket Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 06:28 PM

Only Square would be moronic enough to say 3.4 million units moved in less than a month is a disappointment. It's outperformed anything else released this year, far as I can tell.
by emmett Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 06:34 PM

Tomb Raider is f-ing fantastic! I'm so glad I decided to bye it; the whole game has just been so great and I'm stoked to see how it ends. :D
by John Wrek Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 06:41 PM

Awesome! Totally deserving!

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