New Tomb Raider Game is ‘Continuing’ with Help from Amazon Despite Layoffs

Amazon has been gutted with significant layoffs and put a half to its AAA games development, but Amazon audio, Twitch and games boss, Steve Boom, has confirmed they are still helping with the next new Tomb Raider game. Per Variety, following the news about the halt in games development, Boom said Amazon is “continuing to work with our external studio partners Crystal Dynamics on an upcoming ‘Tomb Raider’ title”.

In addition to aiding Crystal Dynamics with Tomb Raider, Amazon is also continuing to work with “Maverick Games on an upcoming open world driving game”. Amazon’s Montreal game studio is finishing development for March of Giants, and Studio 5 “will continue their focus on more casual and AI-focused games”.

We don’t know how involved Amazon Games is with the next Tomb Raider beyond them being the publisher. It was announced in 2022 that Crystal Dynamics struck a deal with Amazon Games for them to publish the next Tomb Raider installment, with Christoph Hartmann, VP of Amazon Games, saying “Tomb Raider is one of the most beloved IPs in entertainment history”.  

Meanwhile, Scot Amos, Head of Crystal Dynamics, said, “Transformative is what we’re looking for, and with Amazon Games, we found a team that shares our creative vision, ambitions, and values for a Lara Croft universe across the spectrum of possibilities”.

Amos’ words ring true as not only is Amazon publishing the next Tomb Raider game, they are also working on a live-action Amazon Prime series starring Game of Thrones’ Sophie Turner. Not much is known about this series, but Sophie Turner has promised fans “Lara Croft is in very safe hands”.

What we Know About the Next New Tomb Raider

Although official details are slim, there’s still information out there about Lara Croft’s next AAA adventure following Shadow of the Tomb Raider released all the way back in 2018. Aside from being published by Amazon Games, we know it is officially a “single-player, narrative-driven adventure,” and it is using Unreal Engine 5. Using Unreal Engine 5 is a big departure as Rise and Shadow were both visually spectacular experiences that used the Foundation Engine.

We also know that the next game is a unification. This means that the Survivor trilogy is now Lara’s canon origin, but all the events of the other games after Shadow have happened in Survivor Lara’s timeline. Lastly, we know Lara will be wearing her trademark cargo shorts, blue tank top, backpack, and dual pistols thanks to a Unified design that Lara has rocked in crossovers with the likes of Call of Duty, Magic The Gathering, Dead By Daylight, and even Pinball.

Unfortunately, this is as far official details extend. There are rumors about an open-world game set in India with a freely traversable motorcycle and Lara racing “against a society of raiders for Powerful Relics,” but Crystal Dynamics hasn’t confirmed any of this. The Society of Raiders is mentioned on the official Tomb Raider website as part of a newsletter for players to sign up, but that’s as far as it extends right now.

Unfortunately, Crystal Dynamics has suffered layoffs recently, too. Just like Amazon, Crystal Dynamics has promised fans these layoffs do not “alter plans” for the next Lara Croft adventure.

There’s also no release date or even window for Lara’s next adventure, but Tomb Raider Netflix Season 2 is set to premier on December 11th, the same date as The Game Awards. Hopefully we can finally get a reveal from Crystal Dynamics.