In a developing story it appears that Square Enix has switched what users ordered in their Collector's Editions of Rise of the Tomb Raider, causing some issues.
When the PC version of Rise of the Tomb Raider was said to be coming on January 5th, they sent out information about the release date and the PC collector's edition it came with the following image, which was also posted on different sites such as Gamespot and TechRaptor itself.
While there was some mention there of "digital deluxe," the advertising there clearly states it is a retail copy and was there for some time. In fact, on their press page that is still the only downloadable image for the PC collector's edition. The store page shows the following, and did as of at least January 16th
The only change there is saying PC Digital Copy vs the original released image of PC Retail Copy. While we don't have the store page on release, we do have the January 16th version versus the current version, which shows that the page was updated during that time to explain that the Digital Copy was a Steam key—something which was not previously disclosed and some users were hoping for it to not be with that, or perhaps to get a Windows 10 version.
Much of the discussion regarding this has occurred on the Steam Forums, as the lack of a physical copy does not appear to be a universal thing. Two people in the European Union both report that they received physical copies of Rise of the Tomb Raider on PC. The EU shop sadly does not have any archives of it, and its image shows the Digital version at this time. One of the users there posted an image of his (European) collector's edition, which contained 2 DVDs.
Image courtesy of eCookie [エスデス][/caption]In comparison, this is the version another user, Solarstrike, posted that was lacking in any physical copies of the game:
One of the users affected by the change was Solarstrike, and he contacted Square Enix customer support about it. While it took several days for him to get a response, this was the reply he eventually got:
"Thank you for your patience while we thoroughly investigate your Rise of the Tomb Raider Collector's Edition -PC Version- Warranty concern. After we completed our investigation, we concluded that we would not be able to assist you further with this issue. As advertised on the Square Enix Online Store, when ordering this product, only the digital copy of the PC version of Rise of the Tomb Raider would be available. There are no physical disc copies of the game for the NA region. As such, we would not be able to give you any physical disc for this game, as they are none to give. There are physical discs for the EU region due to the per-established laws concerning digital media distribution, but the disc does not contain the files for the actual game, but a Steam code so it may be downloaded and installed through the Steam OS. In regards to the Rise of the Tomb Raider Season Pass and Tomb Raider (2013) PC Digital copy, these codes should have been available to view in your Square Enix Online Store account as of Monday, February 1st, 2016 or emailed to the registered email address that is on the account.
We understand that this news is not the ideal solution you were seeking in regards to your concern, so if you would like to return your product for a full refund, you may do so by contacting Pepita Store Support. Pepitastore Inc. is the authorized seller and merchant of all products and services offered on the Square Enix Online Store. So if a refund is desired for this product, please contact Pepita Store for further assistance with your refund inquiry for Rise of the Tomb Raider Collector's Edition -PC Version-. To reach the support site, please visit http://store.na.square-enix.com/docs/faq_support and choose the link that reads 'Contact Us Here'.
We deeply apologize for the trouble and inconvenience that this may have caused and we hope that this information was helpful to you.
Best regards,
Square Enix Support Center"
There is however one issue with this whole support center statement and that brings us back to eCookie who discussed his version, which came apparently with the files for the game. In a post he states that Disk 1 had 7.93 GB, and Disk 2 had 7.92 GB, and that he ordered on January 12th. While that would be less space than the game on it's own would take up, and it may not be functional without a Steam update to add the final bits, but the game did function. Additionally, the message in the support shows a lack of understanding with a Customer Service calling it Steam OS when most users will be installing on Windows but not utilizing the Linux based Steam OS.
![Image Courtesy of eCookie [エスデス] (From Cookie's copy of RotTR disks)](https://techraptor.net/sites/default/files/imports/2016/02/RotTR-Disk-1-495x330.png)
![Image Courtesy of eCookie [エスデス] (From Cookie's copy of RotTR disks)](https://techraptor.net/sites/default/files/imports/2016/02/RotTR-Disk-2-486x330.png)
On the whole, what is going on here completely is tough to tell. We've reached out to Square Enix for comment but they have not replied. What is clear, however, is that they did advertise the product originally as coming with a retail copy and that some users were not given what they were promised—nor does Square intend to fulfill that obligation. If Square Enix does get back to us, we will update this post with relevant information.
Update
We now have further changes of some sort occuring but we aren't sure what is going on here really. The Square Enix EU shop, which was sold out of PC collector's editions, has changed it's picture to remove Tomb Raider 2013 from what is available for buying it. Why they are doing this, or if it will impact anyone negatively is unknown at this time. They've also changed the picture back to saying PC Retail Copy from saying PC Digital Copy that it had been changed to.
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