Square Enix, the renown Japanese developer behind games like Final Fantasy, Deus Ex, Thief and Tomb Raider to name a few, got a lot of complaints from fans after the surprising decision made with Rise of the Tomb Raider to exclusively release the game on Xbox 360 and Xbox One in late 2015.
While Rise of the Tomb Raider quickly launched on PC in early 2016, PlayStation 4 gamers, arguably the biggest community of Lara Croft fans, had to wait until late 2016 with the 20 Year Celebration edition to play the latest installment.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Chief Executive Officer Yosuke Matsuda explained that going forward the company will try to release games on every platform available, before adding that PC as a platform is essential to Square Enix.
There is definitely that variation between different regions, that is true. Our basic thought for Japanese development studios and for our Western development studios like Eidos Montreal we've got games being made in London at Crystal Dynamics, we all basically follow the idea that we want people everywhere around the word to enjoy our games, so the basic policy is that we want to have all our games on every platform available as far as possible.
We think PC is essential.
This should reassure gamers that the next project in development at Crystal Dynamics (with help from Eidos Montreal), the Avengers project, won't suffer the same fate of Rise of the Tomb Raider.
After all, Square Enix is showcasing this policy with Final Fantasy XV. After launching the game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the RPG will debut on Windows PC early next year and on mobile devices (iOS/Android/Windows 10) with the Pocket Edition this Winter. This Pocket Edition could also launch on the Nintendo Switch, though a final decision on the matter has not been made yet.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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