Lara Croft a four-week Xbox 360 exclusive
A requirement for Summer of Arcade games.
Downloadable Tomb Raider game Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will be exclusively available on the Xbox 360 for at least four weeks.
This is a requirement of all games that are a part of Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade promotion, Crystal Dynamics told Eurogamer in a new interview.
Guardian of Light will be released on Xbox Live on 18th August for 1200 Microsoft Points (£10).
Crystal Dynamics hopes the PC and PlayStation 3 versions of the game will be released on Steam and PlayStation Network respectively as soon as the window of exclusivity is up.
"As with all arcade titles, irrespective of platform, you have to go through your submissions before they agree and approve a date. Unlike a disc based title where we can pick our window, you have to go by what the first parties approve and give you a date, to make sure you're not coming out on the same day as five other titles. They like to manage the release window accordingly.
"We have requested a specific date and hopefully we'll get that and it's not too long after the 360 SKU.
"The agreement with Microsoft is, in order to participate in their hugely successful Summer of Arcade promotion, there is a window of exclusivity. That window of exclusivity is a set four weeks."
Other games in Microsoft's Summer of Arcade promotion include Limbo, due out on 21st July and Castlevania Harmony of Despair, which will be released on 4th August.
Crystal Dynamics hopes to have a release date for the PC and PS3 versions of Guardian of Light in "seven to 10 days".
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is Crystal Dynamics' first download-only game. The San Francisco developer took the reigns of the Tomb Raider franchise from Core Design after press mauled Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.
There's more on Lara Croft's new adventure over at our hands-on preview.