Tomb Raider DLC content meant for original game

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 13th January 2009
Comments (8) Stumble
Tomb Raider DLC content meant for original game

According to the Creative Director behind Tomb Raider: Underworld the coming DLC was meant to be in the full game.

Eidos hasn't stopped having problems with the Tomb Raider license yet it seems and, straight after word comes in that poor sales for Tomb Raider: Underworld have led to lay-offs at Crystal Dynamics and a planned re-design for Lara, more scandals are starting to break.

According to Eric Lindstrom, the creative director behind Lara's latest outing and one of the unfortunate casualties of the recent cull, the downloadable content that is planned for Tomb Raider: Underworld is made of levels that were cut from the full game due to time constraints imposed by Eidos.

"The content of DLC was absolutely not held back from Underworld for the purpose of selling later down the road...I needed to find a way to cut enough days from the schedule in a manner that would not rip a hole in the game that would take time to sew up," Lindstrom said on the Tomb Raider forums

"Even if I was told on that day that we would never ever make a downloabable level, I still would have had to cut it," he added.

Eric goes on to to say that a number of features were cut from the game too because of time constraints, such as Replay Level, Replay Cinematic, cheats and unlockable items. Apparently Lara had a full set of unlockable costumes - everything from sharks to tomatoes - but these were never implemented as time had to be focused else where.

That said, though Underworld may have under-sold a fair bit in Eidos' eyes, the game isn't all that bad and is still projected to sell around 2.5 million copies.

If you've not checked out the game yet then you read our full Tomb Raider: Underworld PC review and tell us what you think in the forums.
Quote [USRF]Obiwan 13th January 2009, 10:54
wow 500.000 copies extra in one day! One day more bad lara news and it will sell 3 million!
Quote liratheal 13th January 2009, 10:57
Now, if Lara wasn't as stiff as a board in recent games, maybe all would be well.
Quote proxess 13th January 2009, 11:21
I kinda liked the last few Tomb Raiders. Well at least the Croft Manor. It's the best part...
Quote shigllgetcha 13th January 2009, 11:27
i think its discrasefull when this happens. when DLC comes out 2/3 months after the original game it sould have been included in the original.

after this i think it should be released free
Quote shigllgetcha 13th January 2009, 11:31
http://blog.wired.com/games/2009/01/rumor-tomb-raid.html
maybe alittle more informative i dont know
Quote Bauul 13th January 2009, 11:48
2.5 million isn't bad at all! I imagine they probably wanted it to say like 15 million though, as niaeve as that is.
Quote Joeymac 13th January 2009, 17:47
Its a good game, I'm liking it.... also got it for less that £20 new on the 360. Perfect price for a game like this. I read the news title and was ready to say "screw them", I'm not buying it if it was meant for the full game. But as long as it was cut due to time and not to cash in then it's okay. They overshot what they had time to finish, that happens in movies, games, software.. it's better for them to be too ambitious and need to haul it back than to under deliver. It clearly needed to come out before Christmas, so they probably didn't have much choice.
Quote Aragon Speed 14th January 2009, 01:43
There were a lot of things either dropped or removed from Terran Conflict for the same reason, Egosoft simply ran out of time to implement it fully. It was better to drop it than to release it in a half-assed form.

At least Eidos/Crystal Dynamics are releasing it for consumption now they have had time to fully finish it. Only thing I am worried about (As the article fails to mention it) is if they are considering charging for it, if they are, then that's just not on IMO. Charging for additional content is fine, you had to put extra effort in to design it and to build it, but don't charge for what should have been in the game anyway but you could not complete within the time constraints your publisher placed on you. That's just not fair, you have already had your cash for the game, don't be greedy.
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