Eidos Confirms 360 Anniversary News

The rumours were true. Lara Croft is making a comeback to the Xbox 360, just not in the way we imagined. Amidst suggestions that Tomb Raider Anniversary would arrive as downloadable content via Xbox Live Marketplace, Eidos today made the surprising confirmation that this will only be available to existing owners of Tomb Raider Legend.

A new move for episodic development on the Xbox 360, the downloadable content strategy appears to be a clever move to reutilise the Legend game engine, whilst bringing the Anniversary content to the 360 with minimal costs to the gamer. The four-episode download will appear in two packages, with the first two available from September and the last two following shortly afterwards. Both episodes comprising all four episodes will cost 2400 Microsoft Points (£20.40), with the Croft Manor arriving as a free download to owners of both the episodes.

"We have created this version of Anniversary specifically for digital distribution as episodic content. This is part of our strategy to grow our presence in online and digital distribution as we believe there are huge growth opportunities arising from this delivery format and we intend to capitalize on the increasing demand for digitally downloaded content," said Jane Cavanagh, Chief Executive, Eidos. "Lara has always been at the forefront of technology and this world first initiative with Microsoft really highlights that fact. Ultimately we also intend to make the title available at retail so that it reaches the maximum possible audience."

"We're continuing to break new ground in getting incredible gaming experiences in the hands of consumers," said George Peckham, General Manager of 3rd Party Publishing, Xbox, Microsoft. "We're excited to be able to deliver one of the most well-recognized franchises in video game history with Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary to our more than six million Xbox Live members worldwide in the form of episodic content."

With Tomb Raider Legend retailing for the bargain price of £14.99 at certain online retailers, this announcement provides a very appealing package for Lara Croft fans on the Xbox 360. For those who've yet to sample the original game, Eidos will release a retail version of Anniversary later in the year, but has yet to announce how much this will cost.