Though the Tomb Raider franchise was as soon as tied carefully to the PlayStation model, in Japan it truly debuted on Sega Saturn, a proven fact that nonetheless sticks in former Sony boss Shawn Layden’s craw.
Layden, who wore a number of hats throughout his 32-year profession at Sony earlier than ending his tenure because the chairman of Sony Interactive Leisure Worldwide Studios — now merely PlayStation Studios — in 2019, spoke to Eurogamer as a part of its PlayStation thirtieth Anniversary protection, and he was requested about having any moments {of professional} jealousy. The chief recalled a time when he was liable for bringing Western video games to Japan and misplaced Tomb Raider to Sega, at the least for a short time.
“I needed to get Tomb Raider for the Japanese market,” Layden mentioned. “I needed it to be on PlayStation. And I noticed [Jeremy Heath-Smith and Adrian Smith, founders of original Tomb Raider developer Core Design], and we talked about it, they usually had been actually excited in regards to the idea. We talked it via. They talked it via. Bada bing, bada growth… they signed to deliver it out on Sega Saturn. Sega?! After which shortly thereafter, they did get it onto the PlayStation in Japan as nicely, nevertheless it launched on Sega. And yeah, that at all times felt… What might I’ve executed to have truly gotten it? However I got here that shut.”
Tomb Raider arrived on PlayStation and Saturn on the identical day in North America, in line with MobyGames, however debuted in different international locations on Saturn and was unique to Saturn in Japan — the place it was referred to as Tomb Raiders — for nearly a month.
That mentioned, Tomb Raider was initially envisioned as a PlayStation recreation after Ken Kutaragi — the previous chairman and CEO of Sony Interactive Leisure typically dubbed “the daddy of PlayStation” — demoed Sony’s first console for Core Design’s Jeremy Heath-Smith within the early Nineties, so I assume Sony has pretty much as good a declare as any to Tomb Raider’s legacy. However in Layden’s thoughts, it appears, the victory of securing the franchise’s debut in Japan will at all times belong to Sega.