Tomb Raider Developer Announces New Round of Lay-Offs Affecting Under 30 Employees

Crystal Dynamics, the developer behind Tomb Raider, has recently announced another round of layoffs, impacting nearly 30 employees across various teams and projects. The company explained that these difficult decisions were necessary due to changes in the video game industry and to secure the ongoing development of the Tomb Raider franchise.

Crystal Dynamics announced today that they’ve made the tough decision to reorganize their studios and teams. This restructuring has unfortunately led to the layoff of approximately 30 employees across different departments and projects as the company prepares for future endeavors.

Despite the recent layoffs, the company confirmed it will continue developing the next Tomb Raider game. Crystal Dynamics explained that these changes are intended to ensure the company can successfully work on future projects as well.

We’ve made some difficult decisions to ensure the ongoing development of our main Tomb Raider game and to position the studio for future game projects. These changes are a response to the evolving gaming industry.

So, I was reading about Amazon’s big layoffs – over 14,000 people! – and it turns out Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind Tomb Raider, was mentioned. Amazon said they were shutting down New World and shifting focus to simpler, AI-driven games. But they also said they were still going to keep working on the next Tomb Raider game, which is a relief as a fan!

Crystal Dynamics has experienced multiple rounds of layoffs this year. They previously reduced staff in August, though the exact number of employees affected wasn’t revealed. The studio stated that these earlier cuts wouldn’t impact the ongoing development of the Tomb Raider game.

It turns out the recent layoffs were connected to a failed deal involving the reboot of Perfect Dark. The plan was for Embracer Group to acquire the Perfect Dark rights from Microsoft and then sell them to Take-Two Interactive, who would have funded the game’s development. This deal ultimately fell apart, leading to the cancellation of the reboot and the subsequent layoffs.

Back in March, Crystal Dynamics also cut jobs, impacting 17 employees. The studio explained these layoffs, as they are now, were needed to focus on future business goals and weren’t a reflection of the affected employees’ work or skills.

2025 has been a difficult year for Crystal Dynamics, and they haven’t shared any information yet about the next Tomb Raider game.

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2025-11-14 14:11