Actually if I recall, the problem with Tomb Raider was an exceptionally bloated budget and unrealistic expectations. In the first month something like 3.4 million copies sold, but they were expecting closer to 7! A well reviewed game that sells millions of copies was still viewed as a failure because the budget that went into the game was downright crazy and the expectations were simply not in line with reality. If you can sell millions of copies of a title and consider it to be a failure then there are some pretty big problems with your business model.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-04-09-square-enix-tho...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123045-Tomb-Raider...

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/712...

Thanks a lot for those links, they are very enlightening.

Tomb Raider was a 'failure' because Square Enix, in order to have a favourable outlook, had to estimate a huge income on it. Basically they had to inflate their predictions for Tomb Raider and try to hit them, or else admit that their future was bleak, and they would be losing money. Tomb Raider was only a failure because it didn't turn enough profit to save the rest of the company. I think this example has less to do with piracy.

You're almost a decade off; 20 years ago Doom was released and the hottest game I knew of.

The North American release of the NES was 28 years ago now.

I think the N64 also had this walled garden system :)

Depending on your definition of "top of the line", I don't think Nintendo has had any sort of monopoly. I would argue that in most terms, the PC has offered a superior gaming experience for most points in the history of gaming. Where it falls down is the supporting needs of gaming, such as system maintenance, game installation, etc. Even so, I think the top of the line title could be said to have been on the PC.

But hey, if you want to compare Doom on the PC when it came out in 1993 to Doom on the SNES when it came out three years later, and consider the sub-standard SNES port that's three years late to be a top of the line game, go ahead.

Although why Doom was used as an example (not by you, I'm aware), I'm not sure. I don't remember any copy protection on it.

My NES continued working when it couldn't contact anyone's always-on DRM servers.

So do all console games.

not the xbox 720, if the rumour mill is to be believed :

http://www.google.com/search?q=xbox+720+always+on+drm&pr...

That's absurd. For many years I used my xbox without connecting it to the internet at all.

xbox 720 is not released yet.

I am aware of that.