Head of Xbox: Rise of The Tomb Raider's Xbox exclusivity "has a duration"

Rise of the Tomb Raider’s exclusivity to Xbox “has a duration”, the Head of Xbox has confirmed.

Phil Spencer confirmed to Eurogamer that the exclusivity of the sequel to Crystal Dynamic’s critically acclaimed 2013 Tomb Raider is only for a set time but he refused to reveal just how long.

“When people want me to say, can you tell us when or if it’s coming to other platforms, it’s not my job,” said Spencer. “My job is not to talk about games I don’t own. I have a certain relationship with this version of Tomb Raider, which we announced, and I feel really good about our long term relationship with Crystal and Square [Enix].”

When news broke of the title’s exclusivity, fans took to social media with many blasting the decision, some even citing the game’s birth on PlayStation.

“I get the reaction I see,” he sympathized. “If I’m a PlayStation person all of a sudden I feel like, the franchise has gone. I didn’t buy the IP. I didn’t buy the studio. It’s not mine. Where this thing will go over time, just like Dead Rising or Ryse, we’ll see what happens with the game. I don’t own every iteration of Tomb Raider.”

Spencer also confirmed that the exclusivity to Xbox would include Xbox 360 as well as Xbox One.

Admist the outrage, Crystal Dyanmics’ Head of Studios, Darrell Gallagher, took to Tumblr to further explain the decision.

Announced during E3 in June, Rise of the Tomb Raider will be set following the events of Tomb Raider and follows Lara Croft as she must user her survival skills, learn to trust new friends, and ultimately accept her destiny as the Tomb Raider.

Lara wil also travel across the world, visiting locations filled with exploration spaces.

Camilla Luddington will reprise her role as Lara Croft whilst Rhianna Pratchett will also return as the writer.

It will be available in the 2015 holidays.