Square Enix had a troubled 2013, at least financially. The publisher blamed its financial lack of success on the failures of titles such as Hitman: Absolution (a mediocre game), Sleeping Dogs (a decent game, but a definite financial flop) and the reboot of Tomb Raider. Well, Lara Croft saves the day it seems, and jumps off this black-list, because the game is now actually profitable.
According to Scot Amos, executive producer at Crystal Dynamics (the guys behind Tomb Raider), the game is no longer operating at a loss. “By the end of last year Tomb Raider is in the black….We’ve crossed the line of profitability for the last-gen and PC versions.” he stated. As it should be! Tomb Raider was a great game, and it certainly deserves to bring in profit. Scot Amos also spoke nicely about Square Enix, stating that despite financial insecurities and changes in the management of the publisher, the team at Crystal Dynamics could always count on support from them.
This is not to say that, overall, Square Enix is completely out of the woods yet. However, things are looking up, since the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition will be launching on the 28th of January, bringing the game to next-gen consoles as well. This fact alone should be a sign of financial recovery, and should mark the transition from loss to real profitability for Lara’s game. In addition, the new installment in the Thief franchise will be launching on the 25th of February (on the 28th in Europe). While we don’t know how good Garrett’s game will be in terms of quality, it should still bring in nice revenues, considering that it is being released for the Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and the PC.
