The house of Lara Croft is slicing much more workers in its fourth spherical of layoffs in only a yr. Crystal Dynamics just lately revealed Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and Tomb Raider: Catalyst at The Recreation Awards 2025 and guarantees they’ll each stay unaffected at the same time as AAA gaming continues to wrestle.
The studio introduced on March 18 that it was slicing 20 individuals throughout “some improvement personnel and a few central operations roles.” That’s along with 30 individuals laid off final November, an unspecified quantity minimize final August, and 17 individuals let go final March.
“As our present initiatives transfer into new phases of improvement, we constantly take a tough take a look at our workforce buildings to make sure they align with our long-term studio objectives,” the corporate wrote on LinkedIn. “Whereas we at all times attempt to transition our individuals into new roles each time doable, we’ve got sadly reached a degree the place these departures are needed.”
Crystal Dynamics, which can be identified for 2020’s live-service fumble Marvel’s Avengers, had a headcount of 273 again in 2022. It’s since confronted a number of rounds of downsizing amid mismanagement at guardian firm Embracer and Microsoft’s cancelation of Excellent Darkish final yr, which the studio was co-developing on the time with The Initiative.
The group is presently working to ship Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, an Unreal Engine 5 remake of the unique 1996 hit, and Tomb Raider: Catalyst, a brand new entry within the sequence that goals to take the action-adventure puzzle method right into a extra open-world format. Whereas the remake is scheduled to launch later this yr, Catalyst has been in improvement for a number of years and nonetheless doesn’t have a agency launch date past 2027.
“We all know that information like this may trigger concern amongst our group. Crystal Dynamics stays absolutely dedicated to the long run improvement of our already introduced Tomb Raider titles,” the studio wrote on Wednesday. “In the present day, nevertheless, our precedence is supporting our colleagues who’re shifting on.”
Each blockbusters are being revealed by Amazon Recreation Studios, which just lately ditched its AAA gaming ambitions because it retreats to low-cost celebration video games. Amazon has mentioned it stays dedicated to publishing the video games although it’s now not clear the place that matches in its bigger portfolio of gaming initiatives. The tech large can be creating a Tomb Raider TV sequence for Amazon Prime.
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