Eidos confirms multiplayer in upcoming Tomb Raider

It looks like the new Tomb Raider sequel will feature a fully-functional multiplayer component. Beyond that, we're largely in the dark.

Rumors have been swirling for weeks now that the heavily-anticipated Tomb Raider (the one being released on March 5, not the original from 1996) will include multiplayer gameplay options alongside the series’ standard singleplayer action/platforming campaign. Rumors much like this one, which we published less than a week ago. Unfortunately, developer Eidos and publisher Square Enix have both been totally mum on the subject. Well, until this morning anyway.

A new post on the official Eidos forums written by Tomb Raider community manager Meagan Marie lends official credence to all of the rumors. “Tomb Raider will include a multiplayer offering thanks to the hard work of our sister-studio, the hugely talented Eidos Montreal,” Marie writes. “The team at Eidos Montreal has been working away at the multiplayer while we focused everything on the single-player offering.”

This is where you’d normally expect the community manager to list a number of reasons why the multiplayer component of their assigned game will be the greatest thing since Lara first battled a Tyrannosaurus with akimbo pistols, but instead we’ve been rebuffed. According to Marie, all of the information the company is currently willing to hand out is locked up in an exclusivity deal with OXM magazine. The next issue of OXM features Lara on the cover and includes a sizable feature on the game and its multiplayer additions, so it is suggested that we wait and pick up a copy whenever they become available.

As for that one new, solid piece of information — that the multiplayer component was developed by Eidos Montreal — we’re not sure how to feel about it. As a whole, the studio’s only really notable work to date was on the excellent Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and while we quite liked that game, it was one of the few modern AAA games to completely ignore multiplayer gameplay. Thus, unless Tomb Raider’s online matches involve upgrading synthetic body parts and throwing refrigerators at hapless enemies, we have no idea what Eidos Montreal might bring to the table with its involvement. Hopefully whatever Eidos Montreal contributes is legitimately excellent, as this is the team that’s been tapped to develop the inevitable Thief 4. We’d like to be sure the studio has full, solid design chops before it gets its hand on such a hallowed license.