Crystal Dynamics has revealed that Amazon Games is publishing the new Tomb Raider.
The news was tweeted out by the official Tomb Raider account and was followed by an official statement from Amazon. Square Enix did own both Tomb Raider and Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind it, but they sold it off last year. The studio was purchased by Embracer Group, along with several other Square-owned developers.
No, really. Square Enix just offloaded the rights to Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief and much much more. And what’s more, they sold it for $300m which is a bargain considering what Embracer got out of the deal. Now, free of Square Enix’s ownership, Crystal Dynamics and Amazon are partnering up for this new entry.
According to Crystal Dynamics, the game will be “.. a single-player, story-driven multiplatform adventure.” It’ll continue thie.. er, explorer Lara Croft’s adventures, though that could mean one of two things. Either it’s going to pick up at the end of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, or it’s going to jump forward to the dual pistol-wielding Lara that a lot of us grew up with.
Either’s possible, given that the “reboot” trilogy could also act as a prequel to Lara’s (chronologically) early adventures. What we do know is that, as announced back in April, it will be making use of Unreal Engine 5 and, according to Amazon and Crystal Dynamics, it’ll be “…the biggest, most expansive Tomb Raider game to date”.
Bigger isn’t necessarily better – we hope that Crystal Dynamics aren’t going full open-world with this new title. What’s a little curious is that though Embracer Group owns publishers Koch Media, the company isn’t publishing this title. But, given the sheer size of its parent company, Amazon Games certainly has the power to get it out there.
It’s still in the early stages of development so while we should see more of it in 2023, don’t expect it to see the light of day that same year. Rhianna Pratchett, who wrote the story for Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider has confirmed she’s not involved. But we’re excited to see where Lara’s adventures take her next.
