Tomb Raider’s 2013 reboot has managed to sell over 8.5m units since launch, Square Enix has announced.
The figure makes the reboot the best-selling Tomb Raider in the franchise’s history. The publisher also said that the game’s sales broke Tomb Raider records for its first day and month of its release, with 3.4 million copies sold in the first month of its launch. However, Square Enix had hoped they could push more units than that.
But the game did turn a profit by the end of the year in 2013, to their pleasant surprise.
“Tomb Raider ignited and expanded the fan base, pushing the series to a new level,” said Darrell Gallagher, head of Crystal Dynamics. “The game’s incredible sales success reflects the passionate response of players. Our studio is proud of what we accomplished with this game.”
Previous reports that the publisher had considered the game to be a failure surprised many shortly after the game’s launch back in March 2013, but it seems that Square Enix’s pronouncement was premature. With the game now being considered a success, it’s no surprise that Crystal Dynamics is aiming high for this year’s sequel - Xbox One timed exclusive Rise of the Tomb Raider.
The sequel follows Lara Croft’s mission to seek out Kitezh, an occult city somewhere in Siberia, after returning home from the first game only to find that no-one believes her account of the supernatural events she witnessed. You can check out the announcement trailer for the game below.
Wesley Copeland reviewed Tomb Raider for Continue Play, awarding it an impressive 8/10 - though his recommendation wasn’t without caveats. While Wes found the game enjoyable overall, he had reservations about the amount of quick time events in the game, and felt that the writers at Crystal Dynamics seemed to go out of their way to inflict as much pain and humiliation on Lara as possible.
“Even for all its faults, Tomb Raider is a game worth playing,” Wes wrote in his Tomb Raider Review. “It somehow manages to fix itself the more you play, which is both marvellous and baffling.”
