Tobii and Crystal Dynamics announce head and eye tracking features for Rise of the Tomb Raider 20 Year Celebration

Tobii, the global leader in eye tracking, and Crystal Dynamics®, the award-winning Square Enix ® studio, today announced that the Steam version of Rise of the Tomb Raider®: 20 Year Celebration will support multiple eye-tracking features. The title is also one of the first games to combine head and eye tracking functionality powered by the Tobii IS4 platform, found in products like the Alienware 17 gaming notebook, Predator gaming monitors from Acer and Tobii’s eye tracking peripheral, the Tobii Eye Tracker 4C. Available today, gamers can experience even greater levels of immersion as their head and eye movement complement traditional controls to enhance in-game interactions.

Intended to work in concert with traditional PC gaming inputs, eye tracking uses the gamer’s eye movement to create new input modality. Pairing eye tracking with mouse and keyboard or gamepad controls gives gamers a richer experience as they are able to mimic actions that occur in real life, such as looking for cover or aiming at a target.

“After celebrating twenty years of Tomb Raider® throughout the past year, we continue to find new ways to entertain and immerse our players,” said Rich Briggs, global brand director at Crystal Dynamics. “These new Tobii features take the exploration in Rise of the Tomb Raider to a deeper level with cutting edge technology.”

Players can become even more engaged in Lara Croft’s newest adventure when their head and eye movement are used as if they were Lara’s, allowing them to explore beautifully hostile environments by simply glancing in one direction or another. Players can also use eye tracking to enhance the game’s minimal UI design by only displaying relevant elements when the gamer looks in that specific area of the screen. Learn more about the game’s Tobii-enhanced functionality here.

“It’s exciting to build off of the positive reception of our eye tracking in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided® and integrate it into another blockbuster title from Square-Enix,” said Oscar Werner, president of Tobii Tech. “Expanding the Tobii experience with the combination of head and eye tracking in Rise of the Tomb Raider sets a new benchmark for realism that gamers will demand from future titles.”

With the Tobii Eye Tracker 4C peripheral, gamers discover more natural gaming experiences, like those created in Rise of the Tomb Raider, without having to upgrade their existing systems or wear designated head gear. Requiring only a single USB connection, the peripheral is the only gaming device that supports simultaneous head and eye tracking. The Tobii Eye Tracker 4C is available for $149 at TobiiGaming.com.

To see the entire collection of Tobii Eye Tracking Enhanced games, click here.