Microsoft caused a (predictable) eruption of fan rage yesterday when it announced that Rise of the Tomb Raider would be an Xbox exclusive. Never fear though, it turns out that this is just another example of the corporate suits twisting the english language to suit their own needs. Rise of the Tomb Raider is simply a timed exclusive. So, the game will release first on Xbox One and 360, then will come to other platforms at a later date. While this might be irritating, its certainly nothing new in the gaming world.

Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, spoke to Eurogamer about the deal:

“There are certain things I’m just not going to talk about because it’s a business deal between us and then. Obviously the deal does have a duration. I didn’t buy the IP in perpetuity.”

The confusion came from the statements from Crystal Dynamics, developer of the game:

“As you may have seen, we’ve just announced that Rise of the Tomb Raider, coming Holiday 2015, is exclusively on Xbox. “

and Microsoft’s own press release:

“Led by the announcement that “Rise of the TombRaider” from Crystal Dynamics will launch in holiday 2015, exclusively on Xbox…”

While it might be annoying to have the people responsible for announcing these games be so unclear, at this point its just par for the (unacceptable) course.