Poor Tomb Raider has finally turned a profit

Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider launched to critical favor at the start of 2013, but Square Enix has previously said that it was disappointed that these high review scores didn't translate to big sales numbers.

Publisher Square Enix expected the game to sell at least five million units in its first month on shop shelves. But the actual number came in far lower: just 3.4 million. The news also arrived at a turbulent time for the publisher, with the departure of president Yoichi Wada and an admission from the company that it would be making an "extraordinary loss" for the financial year.

But perhaps that doom and gloom is now over, as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions of Tomb Raider have made a profit. One that will only presumably be boosted when the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition hits stores later in January.

"By the end of last year--Tomb Raider is in the black," said executive producer Scot Amos in an interview with Eurogamer. "We've crossed the line of profitability for the last-gen and PC versions."

Amos also insisted that Square Enix had supported the developer, despite what the publisher said in its financial reports. "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."

Reflecting on that initial sales expectation (did Square Enix really expect the game to sell upwards of 5 million copies in a month?) Amos also pondered the change sweeping across the industry.

"I think that, as far as realistic or not, what the market can bear... It's a very interesting time. How many people can sell games like Clash of Clans or Candy Crush and make that kind of money? Or Minecraft's sales? Expectations can get shifted so quickly it's difficult to know what realistic even means anymore."

"And, looking forward, clearly Square and Crystal are invested in the franchise. So, despite how it was said, what was said--we had a lot of people scratching their heads and asking about it--we're very happy to say that from a partnership internally, we're committed to it totally. Square Enix talks about it as a key franchise, so we're very happy with where we're at."

Square Enix confirmed last year that a Tomb Raider 2 is currently in the works, and a comic series, penned by Birds of Prey scribe Gail Simone, will bridge the gap between the first and second games. Hang in there, Lara!