Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs following Perfect Dark cancellation

Crystal Dynamics, the developer behind the modern Tomb Raider series, has announced its third round of layoffs in recent years, coming shortly after the cancellation of Xbox’s Perfect Dark reboot.

The details:

• In a post to LinkedIn, the studio shared that it is letting go of an undisclosed number of employees. It cited “evolving business conditions” as the reasoning behind the cuts, stating that they were required to "ensure the long-term health of our studio and core creative priorities in a continually shifting market.”
• The developer did not share any additional details regarding the situation but thanked those affected for their “hard work, talent, and passion,” adding that it is “committed to offering the full extent of support and resources at our disposal during this transition.”
• Crystal Dynamics was brought on to serve as the co-developer of the Perfect Dark reboot, which was in development at Xbox’s The Initiative until it was canned alongside the studio’s closure last month as part of Microsoft’s widespread layoffs. It appears that the job cuts have mainly affected the Perfect Dark team, with Crystal Dynamics stating that its upcoming Tomb Raider project is unaffected.
• This is the studio’s third wave of layoffs in two years, first letting go of an undisclosed number of staff in September 2023. Another wave of layoffs followed in March of this year, which affected 17 employees as it sought to “align our current business needs and the studio’s future success.”

More gaming news:

• Atari has acquired several IPs from Ubisoft with plans to re-release the games with new content on modern platforms.
• PlayStation Studio Business Group CEO Hermen Hulst stated that the company has overhauled its testing processes to avoid failures like Concord.