Rise of the Tomb Raider Announced as Xbox Exclusive at Gamescom 2014

UPDATE. The official Tomb Raider Tumblr published the letter below explaining their reasoning behind the exclusivity.

Dear Tomb Raider Community,

As you may have seen, we’ve just announced that Rise of the Tomb Raider, coming Holiday 2015, is exclusively on Xbox. We consider all of you to be the lifeblood of Tomb Raider and the work we do at Crystal. I’d like to give you some insight into this decision, and why we feel this is the very best thing for the Tomb Raider sequel we’re creating at the studio.

Tomb Raider in 2013 was a success due in large part to your continued support. Our goal has always been to deliver something truly special with Rise of the Tomb Raider. Today’s announcement with Microsoft is one step to help us put Tomb Raider on top of action adventure gaming. Our friends at Microsoft have always seen huge potential in Tomb Raider and have believed in our vision since our first unveil with them on their stage at E3 2011. We know they will get behind this game more than any support we have had from them in the past - we believe this will be a step to really forging the Tomb Raider brand as one of the biggest in gaming, with the help, belief and backing of a major partner like Microsoft.

This doesn’t mean that we’re walking away from our fans who only play on PlayStation or on PC. Those are great systems, with great partners, and amazing communities. We have Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris coming to those platforms this December, and Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition is available on PS4.

We know that there are probably many more questions and concerns. Please do send them to us, and we’ll answer to the best of our ability. Meanwhile we’re going all out to try and make something truly special - the most ambitious Tomb Raider game ever built.

Thanks,

Darrell Gallagher

Crystal Dynamics Head of Studios

The original story appears below.

Today at Microsoft's Gamescom Press Conference, Crystal Dynamics revealed that Rise of the Tomb Raider, the sequel to Tomb Raider revealed at E3 earlier this year, will be coming exclusively to Xbox, Holiday 2015.

Platforms for the game weren't announced when the title was announced at the E3 Xbox press conference, but that's a mega-ton if this ends up being more than a timed exclusive.

However, this reveal does come with the caveat that both the spoken and written announcement always paired the release date with Xbox, so it's possible that the game will eventually come to other platforms, just later in 2016.

We're following up with Square Enix now to confirm these details, but in the meantime it looks like this is an exclusive for Xbox 360 and Xbox One. If you've been on the fence, will this be enough of an incentive for you to pick up an Xbox One? Let us know in the comments.