Livingstone: Tomb Raider rape controversy "blown out of proportion"

The strong reaction to the inclusion of what appeared to be an attempted rape in a recent trailer for Tomb Raider is disproportional, Ian Livingstone has claimed.

Edge reports that the Eidos life president told the audience at the GameHorizon conference that the industry should instead be celebrating one of the UK’s most cherished IPs.

He claimed that the game’s E3 presentation, and the comments from producer Ron Rosenberg that players would want to protect Lara”, as a live interview that went slightly wrong – quotes were misinterpreted and blown out of proportion”.

There was a momentary threat to Lara which she overcame in two seconds. The reaction has been quite extreme.”

He added that the intention was never to imply sexual threat to Lara”, adding: I think about my responsibility as a developer – films can deal with these themes, but it’s different in games when the user controls the action.

We should be celebrating what’s great about the game. I guarantee fans will be delighted with the new Tomb Raider."