LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Monday said it will launch SCi Entertainment Group PLC's
Lara Croft Tomb Raider Anniversary video game over its Xbox Live Internet portal, the first time a full-scale computer game has been launched in this way by the company.
Xbox 360 games console owners will be able to purchase a serialization of the full-game from September in episodes and download them over the Internet through Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace. The computer game won't be available in shops until later in the year.
Both Microsoft and SCi Entertainment, which owns publisher Eidos Interactive, say that digital downloading of computer games is a growing part of their business strategy.
Digital downloading of core PC and games consoles is expected to become a $289 million marketplace by 2010, according to industry analysts ScreenDigest.
Microsoft says that its Xbox 360 owners have downloaded more than 135 million games and pieces of content since its launch in 2005.
"This is part of our strategy to grow our presence in online and digital distribution as we believe there are huge growth opportunities arising from this delivery format and we intend to capitalize on the increasing demand for digitally downloaded content," said SCi Entertainment Chief Executive Jane Cavanagh.
XBox 360 computer console owners already in possession of the Tomb Raider Legends game will be able to download the first two Lara Croft episodes in September, with the latter two parts following soon afterwards.
While Tomb Raider Anniversary launched worldwide in June on Sony Corp.'s (SNE) PlayStation 2 and Windows PC's,
a physical copy of the game won't be marketed to Xbox Live customers through shops until later this year.
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