Work on Next Tomb Raider Game 'Going Well', Crystal Dynamics 'Sheltered' From Embracer Mess: Amazon Games Boss

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The next Tomb Raider game is currently under development at Crystal Dynamics. While there's no update on when the action-adventure title might launch, Amazon Games chief has said that work on the game is progressing, despite the turmoil at Embracer Group, that owns Crystal Dynamics. Amazon Games is set to publish the next Tomb Raider game after it signed a deal with the developer in 2022.

In an interview with IGN published Thursday, Amazon Games vice president Christoph Hartmann said that working on a new Tomb Raider game was a “huge, huge task” that came with high expectations, but the development on the title was moving ahead.

“I mean, doing a new Tomb Raider, the bar is so high. The longer you go, the expectation goes higher, so it's a huge, huge task, but things are progressing. I mean, there's some really great ideas here,” Hartmann told IGN.

While the Amazon Games boss stopped short of providing any details about the game or its development, he said that work on the game was going well and moving forward.

Hartmann also talked about the impact of financial turmoil at Embracer Group, the Swedish conglomerate that owns Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics. The company, up until last year, went on a major acquisition spree, buying several video game studios and intellectual properties, including Crystal Dynamics from Square Enix in 2022.

Embracer, however, fell in debt after a $2 billion (roughly Rs. 16,783 crore) investment deal with Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group field to materialise, sparking a share price spiral, mass layoffs at the company and its many subsidiaries, studio closures, cancellation of multiple in-development projects and eventual sale of several studios within its portfolio.

In March 2023, the company sold Gearbox Entertainment to Take-Two Interactive for $460 million (roughly Rs. 3,860 crore) and divested Saber Interactive for $247 million (roughly Rs. 2,072 crore). Rights for several major franchises like The Lord of the Rings and Tomb