December 9th, 2014 
Mark A Microsoft executive has confirmed that the corporation will act as publisher for Square Enix’s Rise of the Tomb Raider for Xbox One.
Aaron Greenberg, a marketing manager for Xbox, revealed the deal when responding to a fan on Twitter.
@diosmekemeke Yes we are publishing Rise of the Tomb Raider.
— Aaron Greenberg (@aarongreenberg) December 8, 2014
The newest revelation sheds light on the finer details of The Rise of the Tomb Raider’s timed exclusivity deal for Xbox One, but also poses questions about how future ports to other systems will be handled.
Microsoft’s agreement to act as publisher likely means it will handle marketing and distribution costs; which possibly could be a responsibility it has taken to help broker the exclusivity deal in the first place.
The deal also suggests how deep the agreement between the two companies has become, as well as how much of the publishing costs Microsoft is willing to shoulder in order to seal an exclusivity agreement. That also, in turn, suggests how far into the future the exclusivity period could last.
Currently, both Microsoft and Square Enix are only saying The Rise of the Tomb Raider is a “holiday 2015” exclusive.
A representative for Square Enix has told GameSpot that Microsoft is providing support across the entire development and publishing pipeline for Rise of the Tomb Raider. The publisher has not yet commented on whether this affects plans for a PlayStation 4 version.
“Yes, Microsoft will be publishing Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox,” Square Enix’s statement read.
“Microsoft has always seen huge potential in Tomb Raider and they will get behind this game with more support across development, marketing and retail than ever before, which we believe will be a step in continuing to build the Tomb Raider franchise as one of the biggest in gaming.”
Microsoft turned heads in August when it revealed that Lara Croft’s latest adventure would only be available on Xbox One for a limited time.
In December, Sony revealed it had a major third-party exclusive of its own with Street Fighter V, which will be a PS4 and PC exclusive.
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