Crystal Dynamics cuts staff on new IP project

Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics has cut staff working on a new intellectual property.

The number of jobs lost were confirmed by the developer's parent company Square-Enix to be approximately 12 and the lay offs were made due to the project being re-scoped.

In a statement issued to Kotaku, Square-Enix said that the recently announced sequel to this year's Tomb Raider reboot will be unaffected by the redundancies.

'We're a close-knit team at Crystal and wouldn't be making these changes if we didn't feel it was absolutely necessary,' said a Square-Enix spokesperson.

Crystal Dynamics does appear to be keen to help those deposed of their positions and the statement also asked for any other developers currently looking for development talent to contact the studio.

The project that has lost this resource is yet to be announced and this round of redundancies is similar to one made in 2009, where 30 employees were let go so the studio could refocus on the Tomb Raider series alone.

The new IP that this move affects was teased at the beginning of 2012 with the studio saying that it will be a 'fresh and familiar' experience similar to the new Tomb Raider reboot.

The Tomb Raider reboot was released in March this year to a warm critical reception, but did draw criticism for playing a lot like the Uncharted series and moving away from a more traditional Tomb Raider feel. A sequel was announced earlier this month.