Studio behind Tomb Raider is the latest victim of gaming industry layoffs

Another studio hit by layoffs; this time, it’s Crystal Dynamics, the current developers for the Tomb Raider franchise. A total of 17 people were affected as per the announcement, a decision that is being called a necessary move in order to sustain the studio. For now, any plans for game releases remain unaffected by this change.

“This morning, Crystal Dynamics made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by 17 talented team members. We did not make this decision lightly. Ultimately, this step was necessary to better align our current business needs and the studio’s future success,” the announcement said.

This morning, Crystal Dynamics made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by 17 talented team members. We did not make this decision lightly. Ultimately, this step was necessary to better align our current (cont) https://t.co/wKWtl5Be8Spic.twitter.com/q482GyteoJ

— Crystal Dynamics (@CrystalDynamics) March 26, 2025

The studio is known for the Tomb Raider Trilogy, but they also have multiple other popular games under their belt like Legacy of Kain, Gex, and more. Before the latest round of layoffs, it was revealed that the studio was working on two games: a new Tomb Raider title and the revival of ‘Perfect Dark’.

One live service game leading to heavy consequences?

Until 2020, Crystal Dynamics was seemingly doing fine under Square Enix and the studio even got their hands on one of the most popular franchises, Marvel’s Avengers. The live-service superhero title was labelled boring. This was mostly due to the game being a live service title despite playing like a single-player game.

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Following that, Square Enix sold multiple studios, including Crystal Dynamics, which was bought by the Embracer Group. At the time, the studio seemed like it had a chance to make things right for the fans, but sadly, Embracer failed a massive $2 billion deal, which ultimately led to another massive wave of layoffs and studio closure, something that wasn’t appreciated by the gaming community.

Following the failure of Marvel’s Avengers video game, the studio has only remastered the original Tomb Raider games and Legacy of Kain games. The studio does have the two games planned with Xbox Studios and Amazon Games, which may bring back the stability the studio may be looking to find.