Tomb Raider: Catalyst developer Crystal Dynamics says it “stays totally dedicated to the long run improvement” of the Lara Croft franchise regardless of struggling its fourth redundancy spherical within the final 12 months.
“Immediately, Crystal Dynamics is decreasing its workforce by 20 proficient staff members, break up between some improvement personnel and a few central operations roles,” the corporate introduced on LinkedIn. “This can be a troublesome day for our studio, and we by no means make these selections evenly, notably after the restructuring we underwent final yr.”
On the time of its acquisition by Embracer in 2022, Crystal Dynamics had 273 staff throughout its Austin, Bellevue, and San Mateo places of work. Since then, studio staff have endured three separate layoff rounds in March, August, and November 2025, all of which got here on high of 10 job cuts in 2023. Now, the studio is shrinking its staff by one other 20 folks. It is unclear what number of staff stay.
“As our present initiatives transfer into new phases of improvement, we constantly take a tough take a look at our staff constructions to make sure they align with our long-term studio objectives,” the studio added. “Whereas we at all times try to transition our folks into new roles every time attainable, we now have sadly reached some extent the place these departures are mandatory.
We’re unbelievable grateful for the fervour and onerous work these people have poured into our video games and our studio. We’re offering them with severance and job placement help to assist them land their subsequent alternative. If in case you have openings or know of positions for proficient builders, please contact us, and we’ll join them.”
Concluding its assertion, Crystal Dynamics burdened that whereas it understood “information like this may trigger concern amongst our neighborhood,” it “stays totally dedicated to the long run improvement of our already introduced Tomb Raider titles. Immediately, nevertheless, our precedence is supporting our colleagues who’re transferring on.”
Crystal Dynamics beforehand laid off an unknown variety of staff in August of final yr following the cancellation of Excellent Darkish by Xbox, which Crystal Dynamics had been supporting. It at present has two introduced Tomb Raider video games in improvement: Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, a remake of the unique 1996 Tomb Raider, set for launch later this yr, and model new Tomb Raider sport, Tomb Raider: Catalyst, due out sooner or later subsequent yr. Alix Wilton Regan will now play Lara Croft in each video games, changing Camilla Luddington, who portrayed Lara Croft within the Survivor Trilogy.
Each Legacy of Atlantis and Catalyst are printed by Amazon Sport Studios, which itself has suffered a torrid time of late, with quite a lot of cancelations, closures, and layoffs. The Prime Video Tomb Raider collection, starring Sport of Thrones actor Sophie Turner, is at present filming in surrey, England.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, in addition to a critic, columnist, and marketing consultant with 15+ years expertise working with a few of the world’s largest gaming websites and publications. She’s additionally a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually Excessive Chaos. Discover her at BlueSky.