Crystal Dynamics Passes Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbox 360 To Outside Studio

The Xbox 360 version of upcoming action-adventure game Rise of the Tomb Raider is being developed by outside studio Nixxes Software, not Crystal Dynamics, which is handling the Xbox One edition. Square Enix boss Darrell Gallagher revealed the news in the March issue of Game Informer, which is available starting today.

"We're wholly focused on Rise being an Xbox One title without limitation, without even thinking of the Xbox 360 version," Gallagher said.

So why bring Rise of the Tomb Raider to Xbox 360 at all? Gallagher said the platform is still very robust--and with over 84 million consoles sold, there is a clear business opportunity there.

"At the same time, the Xbox 360's ecosystem is still super strong," he said. "There are millions of players out there who have an Xbox 360 and those console translations take time. So we did a test. Nixxes put together a tech demo of Rise of the Raider content running on Xbox 360, and we were totally blown away by what they achieved. But the existence of that game isn't limiting our work on the Xbox One version."

Nixxes Software has worked on previous entries in the Tomb Raider series, including last year's Tomb Raider Definitive Edition.

Some have criticized cross-generation development, saying it can lead to compromises for features or functionality. In the case of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, that's exactly what happened, as the game's marquee Nemesis system was scaled back on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Rise of the Tomb Raider launches this fall, coming exclusively to Xbox 360 and Xbox One through a business deal between Square Enix and Microsoft, which actually serves as the game's publisher.

The game, a sequel to 2013's multiplatform Tomb Raider reboot, could come to PlayStation consoles some day, as Microsoft's deal with Square Enix only guarantees timed exclusivity, not total exclusivity.

Game Informer's March issue is stuffed with new details about Rise of the Tomb Raider, and is an excellent read for fans of the series. You can buy the issue today here.