Under the Knife: Public Relations Failure and Fan Outrage

Despite the overwhelming press that Rise of the Tomb Raider got last week, the aftershock is still being felt. It has now been confirmed that Rise of the Tomb Raider will be a timed exclusive for the Xbox brand and not a complete exclusive that was being touted in the first twenty-four hours of this news. A lot of people have calmed down from this revelation, but there is still residual resentment. Gamers are pointing fingers at each other, at Microsoft, at Square Enix, and at Crystal Dynamics. This whole situation could have been easily avoided had the right steps been taken. The reality is that the three companies involved handled this announcement extremely poorly; however, the fan outcry did nothing to help and only fanned the flames even more.

Let's get to the first part of this disaster. At Gamescom, Microsoft and Square Enix announced that Rise of the Tomb Raider was going to release exclusively for Xbox on holiday 2015. Articles blew up across the internet with this news and so did gamers' minds. It's understandable that the gaming media and gamers would be dumbfounded considering that there was nothing here to suggest that it was a timed exclusive. Rage and confusion set in soon after.

What has to be understood is that a deal like this is not uncommon in the industry. Timed exclusivity is seen with both DLC and games (mostly indies). The problem that hits something like this is the fact that Tomb Raider has always been multiplatform and the fanbase is huge. Microsoft kicked a hornets nest by making it so that the sequel of the successful reboot of Tomb Raider will go on the Xbox first (essentially keeping it from the hands of PC and Playstation owners). This time it resulted in Tomb Raider fans getting out their torches and pitchforks. Their targets being Microsoft, Square Enix, and Crystal Dynamics.

Phil Spencer did the right thing and confirmed that Rise of the Tomb Raider was only a timed exclusive. Although he was coy about speaking for Square Enix and their plans for the game on other platforms, this actually helped the situation. Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics on the other hand did not help. In what I can only speculate happened, Square Enix went along the same route Electronic Arts does by making their developer speak out about a situation that the publisher caused through a PR approved script that sounds completely disingenuous. The poor soul who had to release this bile of insincerity was the head of Crystal Dynamics Darrell Gallagher. The following is the statement he released and my impressions going paragraph by paragraph.

"Dear Tomb Raider Community,"

"As you may have seen, we’ve just announced that Rise of the Tomb Raider, coming Holiday 2015, is exclusively on Xbox. We consider all of you to be the lifeblood of Tomb Raider and the work we do at Crystal. I’d like to give you some insight into this decision, and why we feel this is the very best thing for the Tomb Raider sequel we’re creating at the studio."

Already there are two major flaws here. One, they did not take the opportunity to clarify that the sequel is a timed exclusive. Two, the wordage they use makes it seem like Tomb Raider is solely going to be an Xbox game. This is not a good way to convey a message about the deal with Microsoft.

"Tomb Raider in 2013 was a success due in large part to your continued support. Our goal has always been to deliver something truly special with Rise of the Tomb Raider. Today’s announcement with Microsoft is one step to help us put Tomb Raider on top of action adventure gaming. Our friends at Microsoft have always seen huge potential in Tomb Raider and have believed in our vision since our first unveil with them on their stage at E3 2011. We know they will get behind this game more than any support we have had from them in the past - we believe this will be a step to really forging the Tomb Raider brand as one of the biggest in gaming, with the help, belief and backing of a major partner like Microsoft."

There are already very noticeable buzzwords in this paragraph that just scream that this was a PR concocted message to the public. "Our friends at *insert publisher here*", "our vision", "forging the *insert game name* brand", and "major publisher like *insert publisher here*" are all terms and buzzwords that we have seen countless times in messages like this. Not just from video games, but other business mediums. We are not stupid. We know what this is. We know this is an insincere statement that is being used as a smokescreen. Stop it. Seriously, stop it.

"This doesn’t mean that we’re walking away from our fans who only play on PlayStation or on PC. Those are great systems, with great partners, and amazing communities. We have Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris coming to those platforms this December, and Tomb Raider: The Definitive Edition is available on PS4."

Listing games that are and will be available on other platforms is not helping your case because gamers want a proper sequel. Even in this paragraph that is hollow in every way, you make it sound like you are leaving bread crumbs for the Playstation and PC communities, while serving up an entire baguette for Xbox. Just...no. Seriously, no.

"We know that there are probably many more questions and concerns. Please do send them to us, and we’ll answer to the best of our ability. Meanwhile we’re going all out to try and make something truly special - the most ambitious Tomb Raider game ever built."

Well, we didn't get any answers from either you or Square Enix. Phil Spencer had to do that. Also, again, by making your proper sequel sound incredible and saying it's going to one system, you are only infuriating gamers even more. We have already seen the fallout of this. That brings me to the next subject: fan outrage.

Look guys, I know gamers are a passionate bunch. I know that being a fan of something involves a lot of time and energy. You can collect all the seasons of your favorite show, play every game in a franchise, or read every book in a series, but to go to social media outlets and outright cuss out or threaten members of a developer or publisher is just plain wrong. You are treading that part of the internet that no one likes to go to.

Fandoms of all things can be a powerful force and change the outcome of the way business works. Tomb Raider fans were not the only ones raging this month. Shark Week on Discovery Channel saw a flood of angry messages from dedicated Shark Week fans and fans of marine biology because Discovery decided to have a fictional mockumentary detailing an attack on a whale watching trip off the coast of South Africa by a thirty foot shark known as Submarine. The special was called "Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine". While I do understand why people would be upset at such things, both cases relay back to it all being business.

If Discovery wants to run a fictional special about a mysterious shark, then I say let them. We are in a time when people are more knowledgeable about sharks and it is no way harming the reputation of sharks. Discovery has plenty of programming dedicated to the real-life study of sharks that are very informative. There is no need to go into a Twitter frenzy and make threats. The same goes for Tomb Raider fans. There is no point in posting threats. If Square Enix is going to make a timed exclusivity deal with Microsoft or any other publisher, we can't change their minds. If this turns out to be a mistake, then they will learn the hard way; however, this is Square Enix we are talking about. They thought making Final Fantasy XIII into a franchise would somehow redeem whatever fallacies they had in the first game, but all that did was cause more confusion and hatred for the XIII series. They are a company who very obviously want revenue and Microsoft gave them exactly that.

While I do think that it was a foolish decision by all three companies to not explicitly admit that Rise of the Tomb Raider is going to be a timed exclusive from the start, we (as fans and consumers) have to realize that the video game industry is a business. In the entertainment business, sometimes the way a franchise progresses can help it reach new heights or sink to low depths. Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles may not have been that bad of an adaptation, but his Transformers movies continue to lower the bar iteration after iteration. Discovery may be adding more fiction into Shark Week, but that does not mean that they are going to abandon the very real work being done in that field of study.

To the fans of Tomb Raider the bottom line is this: even though a series may not go the way we want, we do have a right to be upset and angry, but not to the point where we are threatening someone. That is never the way to express yourself. That shows carelessness and selfishness and above all else a complete lack of common sense. What is there to gain by threatening someone over the internet of all places? Nothing.

To the companies involved with this exclusivity deal: be smarter with Public Relations. These are your customers you are addressing. They are your bread and butter. They make it so that you still have a job. They help you pay the bills and put food on the table. Having a job these days would be a luxury for many. Be glad that you have millions of gamers worldwide who support you, but don't treat them like idiots or children by creating a post that is drained of candor. That makes for bad business and a bad reputation. That ultimately ruins you as a whole.