Tomb Raider Dev Announces Fourth Round Of Layoffs In Past Year

Crystal Dynamics, the esteemed studio known best for its work on the Tomb Raider franchise, has announced its fourth round of layoffs in the past year alone. The developer said this latest round, which impacted 20 people, was “necessary.”

In a post on LinkedIn, Crystal Dynamics said the cuts were split between developers and “central operations” roles. “This is a difficult day for our studio, and we never make these decisions lightly, particularly after the restructuring we underwent last year,” the Embracer-owned studio said.

The developer said it is “continuously” looking at the structure and makeup of its teams “to ensure they align with our long-term goals.”

“While we always strive to transition our people into new roles whenever possible, we have unfortunately reached a point where these departures are necessary,” the team said. “We are incredibly grateful for the passion and hard work these individuals have poured into our games and our studio.”

Affected developers are getting severance pay and job-placement assistance.

Crystal Dynamics went on to say it has multiple projects currently in development at various stages of production. Two of these games are this year’s Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and 2027’s Tomb Raider: Catalyst. The studio said it remains “fully committed” to these projects.

Crystal Dynamics previously laid off 17 people in March 2025, followed by an unspecified number of cuts in August 2025 and November 2025.

As mentioned, Crystal Dynamics is now owned by Embracer, following Square Enix’s sale of the company and the Tomb Raider IP in 2022. The new upcoming Tomb Raider games from Crystal Dynamics will be published by Amazon Games, a unit of the retailer giant that itself has undergone major cuts in recent times.

Beyond the new Tomb Raider games, Prime Video is producing a live-action Tomb Raider TV show starring Sophie Turner as Lara Croft. Recently, footage of the TV show leaked from the set.

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