Crystal Dynamics undergoes layoffs but Tomb Raider unaffected

Crystal Dynamics is hard at work on the next Tomb Raider game. However, the company did just take a hit due to Perfect Dark being cancelled. Crystal Dynamics had been the main support studio for this game. Now, Crystal Dynamics is undergoing more layoffs.

In a statement (via VGC), Crystal Dynamics confirmed the layoffs, saying: “Today we made the very difficult decision to part ways with a number of our talented colleagues as the result of evolving business conditions. This decision was not made lightly. It was necessary, however, to ensure the long-term health of our studio and core creative priorities in a continually shifting market”.

This is the third round of layoffs at Crystal Dynamics over the last two years. The studio had been sold from Square Enix to Embracer Group before entering a new publishing agreement with Amazon Games for the next Tomb Raider.

Aside from Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics had been contracted by former Microsoft studio, The Initiative, to work on Perfect Dark. Microsoft cancelled Perfect Dark and shut down The Initiative just weeks ago but Crystal Dynamics does not specify this as the root cause behind the new layoffs. However, the studio does say that work on the next Tomb Raider remains unaffected by the new cuts. There is still no word on when the next Tomb Raider game will be revealed to fans.

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KitGuru Says: If Tomb Raider had been far enough along to require a bigger team, a chunk of these jobs likely would have just moved over to the Tomb Raider team. Based on all of this, we would estimate that Tomb Raider is still in the early stages. 

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