Storied development studio Crystal Dynamics, famous for their work on everything from Tomb Raider to Marvel’s Avengers to Gex, announced earlier today that as a “result of evolving business conditions”, they had “made the very difficult decision to part ways with a number of our talented colleagues”.
Those conditions are numerous; there’s an overall downturn in the video game market, particularly at the AAA end that Crystal Dynamics operate, in which it feels like more projects are being cancelled and studios closed then games are being released to buy and play.
But then there are problems cruelly unique to Crystal Dynamics, a studio with an exceptional track record who have nevertheless over the years found themselves bought by a large publisher (Square Enix) that had absolutely no idea what to do with them, before more recently being offloaded to a company (Embracer) with even less idea, and which has in no small part contributed to the dire state of the AAA market I mentioned above.
The company’s full statement reads:
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.
To those impacted – we recognize and thank you for your hard work, talent, and passion. We are committed to offering the full extent of support and resources at our disposal during this transition.
To our teams, players, and partners, thank you for your continued support as we build a creative, sustainable, and resilient tomorrow together. This includes the future of Tomb Raider, which remains unaffected by this decision.
While the next Tomb Raider game remains “unaffected”, social media posts from laid off workers suggest the cuts–no numbers were included with the announcement, so we don’t know exactly how many people have been let go–are focused on the Perfect Dark team, with that game having been cancelled last month as part of wider layoffs and closures.Â
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