Tomb Raider became profitable late 2013

It took up to 9 months for Tomb Raider to make a profit despite it receiving worldwide critical acclaim, says the game’s Executive Producer.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Scot Amos said that reboot of the franchise finally became profitable by the end of 2013. In the fascinating interview, which also details the upcoming Definitive Edition, he said: “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.”

Publishers Square Enix had previously labeled the game a financial failure, saying that the game failed to meet the studio’s expectations despite the game selling a whopping 3.4 million copies during its first month and over 4 million copies by August 2013.

Crystal Dynamics defended the game’s sales saying that the game achieved the biggest week one sales in the franchise’s history and, at the time of release, was the biggest opening in 2013.

According to the interview, and a report by Games Industry, Tomb Raider approached a budget of $100 million, needing to sell at least 5 million copies to break even.

But despite the conflict on sales, Amos says that Square Enix is still backing the series, commissioning a sequel which is currently in development. He said: “As a franchise, Square Enix is clearly invested in us. They already let us get kickstarted on a sequel and they backed us with this [the game’s upcoming Definitive Edition].”

“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.

“And, looking forward, clearly Square and Crystal are invested in the franchise. So, despite how it was said, what was said,” he continued. “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.”

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition launches for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on January 31st.