As we predicted, releasing Rise of the Tomb Raider in the same week as Fallout 4 was a bad decision on behalf of Microsoft and publishers Square Enix, as the game has debuted in fifth place on the UK all-format charts after selling less than a third of the amount of copies achieved by its predecessor within the same time period.
Though Rise of the Tomb Raider was universally well-received among critics, it seems that the game’s launch coinciding with the release of the much-anticipated Fallout 4, not to mention its exclusivity deal with Microsoft which led to it only releasing on the Xbox One and Xbox 360, had a negative impact upon its sales. After Chart-Track released the PAL all-format charts for the week, NeoGAF member Bruno MB provided a breakdown of the numbers pulled in by the game, revealing that the Xbox One version sold fewer than 48,200 copies, while the Xbox 360 version (which debuted in 23rd place in the chart) sold fewer than 8,500 copies.
Also See: Halo 5 Sold Fewer Xbox Consoles Than Any Other Game in the Main Halo Series
While sales numbers weren’t officially provided by Chart-Track, these numbers were calculated by working off the amount of Xbox One copies of Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate that were sold, which charted just above the Xbox 360 version of Rise of the Tomb Raider in 19th place. “We don’t have the splits by platform for Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, but it is evident that the Xbox One SKU has to be below 50% which put it under 8,500 units sold,” Bruno MB wrote. “Rise of the Tomb Raider Xbox 360 accounts for 15% of total sales, so all versions combined are below 56,700 units.”
Considering that the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot sold 183,000 units at launch, this would mean that Rise of the Tomb Raider sold less than a third of the copies achieved by its predecessor. It also means that the sequel only managed to sell over a half of what Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition achieved when it launched, with it selling 27,500 copies within the same time period.
While it’s a crying shame to see a game as good as Rise of the Tomb Raider not receiving the amount of attention it deserves, hopefully this will serve to deter Microsoft and Sony from obtaining these timed exclusivity deals with games in the future. Hopefully the game performs better in other regions, but the UK charts are typically indicative of a game’s global reception.
Here are the top 10 best-selling games of last week:
- (NE) PS4 FALLOUT 4 (BETHESDA SOFTWORKS)
- NE) XBO FALLOUT 4 (BETHESDA SOFTWORKS)
- (01) PS4 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS III (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
- (02) XBO CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS III (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
- (NE) XBO RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER (SQUARE ENIX EUROPE)
- (06) XBO FIFA 16 (ELECTRONIC ARTS)
- (NE) PC FALLOUT 4 (BETHESDA SOFTWORKS)
- (04) 360 CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS III (ACTIVISION BLIZZARD)
- (NE) PC FOOTBALL MANAGER 2016 (SEGA)
- (05) XBO HALO 5: GUARDIANS (MICROSOFT)
[Via Chart-Track]
