This morning, Amazon Games and Crystal Dynamics announced their partnership to create a new Tomb Raider game for several platforms.

Lara Croft is returning in a new game powered by the cutting-edge Unreal Engine 5 engine. The development studio is Crystal Dynamics, and Amazon Games will handle worldwide distribution and support.

The upcoming, unannounced Tomb Raider game will continue Lara Croft’s journey in the franchise and will be a single-player, narrative-driven adventure. The developers claim that it has everything that has made Tomb Raider such a cherished gaming franchise, including putting players in charge of the fearless and multifaceted hero Lara Croft and placing them in a world that rewards exploration and creative pathfinding and features challenging puzzles and a wide variety of enemies.

As of May, when Square Enix sold Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix Montreal, and Eidos Montreal to Embracer Group for $300 million, this will be the first title developed by any of those studios. Square Enix, a Japanese video game publisher, used the proceeds from the sale to shift its attention to emerging technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud gaming rather than the large Western triple-A blockbusters it said were financial failures. Crystal Dynamics and Amazon Games obviously see a lot of potential in Lara Croft.

Tomb Raider is one of the most popular entertainment franchises of all time, according to Christoph Hartmann, v.p. of Amazon Games. Amazon Games is proud to be working with such a legendary studio and series, as part of our mission to provide customers with the finest selection of games across a wide range of platforms and genres. We can’t wait to work with the amazing and forward-thinking folks at Crystal Dynamics to bring the next chapter in Lara Croft’s narrative to players across the world.

According to Amazon, Crystal Dynamics plans to employ Unreal Engine 5 to make Tomb Raider the largest and most open-world game in the series’ history. The game is still in the planning stages, and more information will be provided at a later time.

Scot Amos, head of studio at Crystal Dynamics, stated in a statement, “Crystal Dynamics has an exceptional opportunity following our acquisition by Embracer to redefine what a publishing partnership is for Tomb Raider.” “Transformative is what we want, and in Amazon Games we discovered a team that shares our creative vision, goals, and values for a Lara Croft world throughout the spectrum of possibilities. They’re in a great position to change the rules of how publishers and developers work together, and we can’t wait to start producing the most ambitious Tomb Raider game yet alongside them.

For over 30 years, Crystal Dynamics has created and released a wide variety of critically acclaimed games, including the Legacy of Kain and Tomb Raider series. There are more than 170 million gamers in the world who have enjoyed the games in the Tomb Raider franchise, which comprises over 20 video games. Since 1996, when the first game in the series was launched, more than 95 million copies have been sold.

More than 200 “Best of” awards and nominations were given to the latest “Survivor Trilogy,” which consists of Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015), and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018).

Aside from Lost Ark from Smilegate RPG and Blue Protocol from Bandai Namco Online, with which Amazon Games recently announced a publishing partnership, the collaboration with Crystal Dynamics represents a significant increase of Amazon Games’ focus on its triple-A publishing endeavours.

Tomb Raider is Amazon Games’ first narrative-driven single-player game after the company’s success with multiplayer games like New World and Lost Ark.

Crystal Dynamics has not just one, but two more studios outside of its main office in San Mateo, California: Crystal Northwest in Bellevue, Washington, and Crystal Southwest in Austin, Texas.