Praises the team for delivering what they did considering the conditions they were under.

Tomb Raider: Underworld screenshot

Posting in a Tomb Raider Forums thread titled Ask Eric, Tomb Raider: Underworld creative director Eric Lindstrom has revealed he feels it was a "damn miracle" the team managed to produce the game they did considering the conditions they were under.

"... re-factoring code for next-gen was a big deal and took a lot of effort and time. And 3 years is only a lot of time with a team much bigger than ours," Lindstrom explained. "Look how many people are on the credits lists of other games, given the type of games they are. I think it's a damn miracle, and a testament to the team, that we delivered what we did under the conditions we were under (team size and engine re-factoring for next-gen)."

Lindstrom confirmed yesterday that he was one of the Crystal Dynamics staff to be laid off, a move which followed Eidos' announcement that Tomb Raider: Underworld failed to meet internal sales forecasts having sold only 1.5 million units worldwide as of December 31, 2008.