Crystal Dynamics, the development studio currently working on a new Tomb Raider game, has announced a round of layoffs hitting the company.
The news comes via a post on the company's LinkedIn page, where it states just under 30 job cuts "across various departments and projects" in a bid to "restructure the company and business for our next generation".
"To our players - as the realities of the industry continue to evolve, we've made these painful choices as a way to optimize the continued development of our flagship Tomb Raider game, as well as shaping the rest of the studio to make new games for the future."
This is actually the third time this year that Crystal Dynamics has laid off staff; as IGN reports, 17 staff were let go in March, and further jobs were cut in the aftermath of Perfect Dark's cancellation.
The developer is known to be working on a new entry in the Tomb Raider series, which is being published by Amazon, but unfortunately there are very few meaningful details about the game thus far. It's far along the project is.
Layoffs have been a frighteningly common occurrence throughout the games industry the last few years, with countless examples from publishers and studios big and small.
[source linkedin.com, via ign.com]
Comments 28
Removed - inappropriate
Stick a fork in it guys, it's cooked
Greedy, evil corporations seek to rid themselves of the job market that vested upon them the great riches of gaming culture, and we're standing by where we should regulate to protect our creators and artists.
Instead of acting in time, the representatives are filling their pockets, whilst people are eating up absolute drivel in the form of gaichas, live service shooters and otherwise predatory sausage factory, now AI-assisted, repeats of last year's menu.
All the while time honoured developers are disappearing before our very eyes. In their stead, daddy's little boy will inherit 'their' IP (unfairly gobbled up by mega corps) and have scores of AI agents working for their one-man companies, regurgitating old ideas in a veritable physical and mental wasteland that shrinks until they publish only to themselves.
@iNightfarer yeah, its funny, tomb raider popped into my head a few weeks ago, cause it went out of sight, out of mind. But didn't they announce they were working on another installment way back when ps5 launched? What happened? Nothing to show by now????
They'll be completely shutdown in a few years time.
So how many people are left now
I'm curious what that puts the current headcount at CD at? Is this a fairly lean studio now?
Never dance with the devil in the pale moonlight.
Man I love me some Tomb Raider and I'll be ready to support when I can but can Tomb Raider alone really save Crystal at this point? They've certainly struggled ever since that blasted Avengers game.
@graymamba Never. Dance with the Hamburgler instead. You, the Hamburgler, couple of Big macs under the moonlight. Forget about it!
@EfYI that was well written, a bit mental, but well written
A tough few years for Crystal Dynamics - forced to make Marvel Avengers into a Live Service 'Flop' by Square Enix who then sold them off (and other Western Studios/IPs). Since then, have been 'involved' in two projects, 1 of which was cancelled and the other had reports of being 'behind' when they cut staff the first time.
I really liked their Tomb Raider Reboot and follow up, but its not looking good for them or their next project right now...
@Ken_Kaniff likely sooner than that. It’s crazy what’s going on in the gaming industry. But I suspect this is all due to these companies wanting AI to create what they had to pay these people to do.
@EfYI Agreed and next year they will be pushing for more digital releases than physical, I also dont think that Perfect Dark cancellation has helped either yet another company thats been effected by MS profit and cancelling path
@AhmadSumadi 100%. I really wish they would put some regulations on the amount of your workforce that is allowed to be replaced by AI. Before it starts getting out of control.
No wonder the big AAA quality is lower than usually.
Probably another series that used score high 80s will end low 80s or less and below in quality again compared to the last 3 games.
Terrible industry right now.
@BearsEatBeets They still have over 200 people. I don't know exactly with all the lay-offs. They were 273 in 2022.
I also have found out that they hired at least one person this year. Hopefully she is not part of these lay-offs, as she is the best chance at a new legacy of kain game.
@OldGamer999
I think I disagree on the current released AAA-games' quality at least until I've understood your metric a little better.
For me, it is a tale of two cities. It is the best of times, and the worst of times. Games have reached a cinematic level of excellence and fidelity, and the medium has allowed much diversity in terms of artistic storytelling and innovative game design. But game development has, to some extent, stagnated in terms of the game designs of this medium has largely been recycled (and improved upon) without, somewhat reductively perhaps, the same speed of evolution as the hardware which coincidentally also has entered a phase of diminishing returns in terms of improvement in fidelity and detail. In essence, games are continuously getting 'better' but, and there is a but!
Many developer studios has degraded or expired in such a degree that I attribute it to an external malice consisting of Greed and Theft (anthropomorphized names for corporations and AI creation tools and the algorithms that expunge their output.)
I am by the by really enjoying my time as a Banisher: The ghosts of New Eden, which may or may not explain my occultist approach to video game commentary.
Now I’m definitely losing hope for this game.
It's been 7 years since Shadow of TR and what we got was remastered of old games and an animated tv show.
At this rate, if CD didn't do something to fix their mess, people would lost more interest with the series...
Another studio Sony could have purchased on the cheap, but rather take on heavy debt with an unprofitable bungie, while embracer, tencent and the like know jack of how the gaming industry works.
this studio has what 275+ employees?
I do want another 3d tomb raider game, had fun with the last 3.
Hope they'll pull through and not close.
Really looking forward to a new Legacy of Kain or Soul Reaver game. Hopfully, that is happening.
It will be funny when ai starts asking for wages and holidays 😊
@EfYI While I mostly agree with the sentiment, it's for different reasons. Those time-honoured studios are nothing but a name. The quality of the products associated with them comes from the people behind the name. Some of those people left content with a long career. Many where systematically removed from the industry. Sometimes that was the result of external stakeholder pressure or the excessive commoditisation of the process leaving creatives frustrated. Often times it was from within the studios they helped establish - petty politics, infighting and new "talent" feeling entitled to a legacy they could never sustain.
The technical excellence one sees is the product of evolving pipelines, disproportionately more processing power and team sizes ballooning by a factor of 10-100. One can easily mass-hire for graphical fidelity. Legitimately imaginative worlds, iconic characters, memorable stories and innovative game systems... Not so much. At this point, seeing these studios shuttered leaves me conflicted. It's the end of an era, but also, in many cases, a mercy killing. No amount of funding can change the fact that, internally, they bear no resemblance to what they once where.
Everyone else: people are losing their jobs because of the industry.
Nintendo: everyone gets a payrise.
Some nintendo fans: why are games now so expensive?!
People who own multiple formats: at least I'm paying for someone's payrise by paying nearly 70 quid for donkey kong.
The models shown across the board aren't compatible at all, and as a ps5 and s2 owner, I can see the plus and minus all around - even as a consumer, its a difficult time to understand just what the heck is going on as its far more complex than "Sony bad, nintendo milking fans" when it comes to gane prices.
Depends what those people were doing I guess. If they are overheads then it won't affect the game.
Although from everything I've heard in the rumours and leaks, the game doesn't sound remotely promising anyway.
As a TR fan, I would not be sad if it was cancelled.
The 2013 to 2018 trilogy started off well, but gradually went down hill in terms of the character(s) and story telling.
That being said, the two Crystal Dynamics entries were in my view vastly superior to the Eidos Montreal developed finale.
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