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Millions of Disappointing Tomb Raider Sales for Eidos

Posted by Bob Mackey

Tomb Raider: Underworld was one of those games I was a little bummed about missing out on over the busy 2008 holiday season. I'd pretty much abandoned the series after the second installment, but flirting with both Tomb Raider: Legend and Anniversary over the past few years proved to me that the series might once again deserve my full attention. Because I was without some sort of device used to stop time, though, my winter break was filled to the brim with other games, some of which I really shouldn't have been playing. So I couldn't help but feel guilty after hearing multiple reports on podcasts, blogs, and websites about the disappointing sales of Underworld; did my lack of care doom this underdog series to an undeserved death, just when it was getting good again? Well, according to Gamasutra, the rumors of Tomb Raider: Underworld's retail death have been greatly exaggerated:

Although Eidos previously admitted disappointment with Tomb Raider: Underworld’s sales, the title racked up 2.6 million unit sales in the period, with a faster rate of sell-through than either Tomb Raider: Legend or Tomb Raider: Anniversary.

It's unclear what exactly Eidos would consider "not disappointing," but it's safe to assume at this point that Tomb Raider: Underworld has made a very healthy profit--unless they happen to be supplying their development team with an endless supply of cocaine and high-class prosititutes. But even if these extremely unlikely employee perks did exist, Underworld literally made hundreds of millions of dollars, and that's nothing to sneeze at, especially as the American economy continues to circle the drain. Brain disease and blockbuster game development might not always go hand-in-hand, but with incidents like this one and EA's John Riccitiello claiming that the recession is good for gaming, it might be time to consider dishing out Thorazine in the company cafeterias.

Related Links:

The Uncanny Valley: Tomb Raider and Lara Croft Are Starting to Freak Me Out
Gamepro Feature Mourns The Loss Of Mammaries
If This is True, RIP Eidos

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Posted Mar 02 2009, 12:00 PM

Filed under: tomb raider, eidos, bob mackey, sales, recession, economy, tomb raider underworld

Comments

lazyfatbum said:

They were expecting moar, the campaigns to push Lara's newest venture was probably more than a few hundred million by itself. Too much more, I think it might be pushing in to movie-deal territory and politics the likes of which go too far in to the murky executive depths for my Bullshit-o-tron to penetrate.

Excellent news though, proving once again that the dungeon crawler and high-exploration one-player games are highly desired in a market that seems so centered on multiplayer, whether its local or online. I might have to pick this one up... i'm in the same boat in that I stopped after part 2 because I heard part 3 was subtitled "Tits N'Tigers".

I wonder if the creepily-named Preteen Raider idea will ever take off as a more platform-centric spinoff with faster gameplay and a younger audience in mind.

March 2, 2009 12:36 PM

Nick Daniel said:

On Slate there was an article a couple weeks back about what's killing the videogame business:

(link: www.slate.com/.../2210732 )

The premise being that game developer's budgets have ballooned as they all vie to get make the next killer app (ie. GTA4, which sold 6 million in its first week). A fact which means merely a respectable number like 2.6 million in the release quarter may no longer enough for to make a profit large enough to justify the huge expense.

March 2, 2009 2:49 PM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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