Crystal Dynamics

2K Games did it with WWE 2K as well.

It's this common practice that I thought after the events of the 2020 Avengers game from Square Enix, and Crystal Dynamics, I thought that they would have stopped that.

You know, in Cyberpunk 2077 as well.

Those were their most disastrous games in 2020.

No, I'm sorry.

$3,300 of game content of cosmetics and all like go back and do your homework and research that that game.

I remember somebody did the math and actually literally did the math, did the research and calculated how much content that game would have cost if you bought every single cosmetic and every single attribute or whatever they were selling in Marvel Avengers from Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics.

And it came to... roughly estimated three thousand three hundred dollars for every single one of those pieces if you brought every cosmetic every game that they came out now remember when they cr when the game was shut when the game is being shut down which again i would argue we should still have the ability to want to play that and own that game mind you we paid money for that game that right there is a crime when we when they decided to let go that game and shut it down and take it off the marketplace.

Rebuilt with survival mechanics and a grittier, more grounded tone.

It was developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix, which bought Eidos in 2009, and it released on the 5th of March, 2013.

It was written by Rhianna Pratchett.

Oh, yes.

Yeah.

As did the series.

So, uh, this was actually Crystal Dynamics' second rescue attempt.

So after Angel of Darkness, which we spoke about, they relaunched Lara with Legend of Tomb Raider in 2006-

Um, but problems came when they had to transition to, to PlayStation 2, which they struggled with.

And our role was really publishers, uh, and supporters and kind of flying the flag for Lara wherever we could, but it was down to that incredible team at Core Design that put the game out every year until they failed effectively on PlayStation 2, and that's when we made that rather sad but bold decision to move it to Crystal Dynamics, um, which was the right thing to do.

Much better equipped for the demands of this new technology.

Um, and that, I guess, was that for me being hands-on with, with, with Tomb Raider.

P&L and, you know, and valuations and all those sorts of nonsense.

So those are important, and he knows they are, and he's made his success there, but it's... was interesting.

I didn't wanna, you know, I didn't wanna waste time sharing this story when he was on air, but one of my favorite memories working, um, with him, uh, at Crystal Dynamics is we had this creative offsite that Janos Flasser, who is another guest-

Oh, yeah

absolutely complete

opposite right so what did it damage though the thing is the fallout was so severe that publisher idos stripped the series creators core design of the franchise entirely handing it to crystal dynamics who rebuilt lara from the ground up with the tomb raider legend in 2006 so tomb raider at that point had become an annual franchise and they they'd actually said themselves as developers that they were putting out a game every year right and did that damage the wider lara croft brand because the knock-on effect also sorry of this game is that paramount executives then blamed the poor reception of this game on the film lara croft tomb raider cradle of life yeah that was nothing to do with the game yeah paramount's distribution president specifically said the film's core audience were gamers who weren't happy with the latest tomb raider game you imagine that happening

with sony spider-man universe and that you know when they did like craven hunter and all these terrible movies and went yeah it was all insomniac's fault that spider-man game was rubbish shit i can't get away with it

no no no no naughty paramount naughty power so and this one's saying it wasn't a commercial catastrophe because it still sold around two and a half million copies the problem was that tomb raider was expected to be a much bigger hit i think they were looking at least double that right so basically a lot of the criticism was that classic lara was tombs exploration puzzles platforming shooting This gave you, I think, like Parisian Streets, a murder investigation, gangster stealth, dialogue choices, RPG progression.

They'd made too many shit games in a row.

So Eidos went, we're going to hand it over to Crystal Dynamics.

So Crystal Dynamics were an American company who made a game called Gex for the PlayStation, which I've played.

It's a wisecracking gecko voiced by...

Dana Gould.

Wait, fuck you.

Hey, nice.

Anyway, Crystal Dynamics made...

The upcoming Uncharted game reportedly won't be a remake, but a new entry in the series.

Naughty Dog veteran Shaun Escayg, who returned to the studio in 2021 after working on Marvel's Avengers at Crystal Dynamics, is apparently leading the project.

Series protag- protagonist Nathan Drake will also reportedly return, though it's unclear in what capacity.

Plus, it sounds early enough in the concept phase that everything could still be subject to change." And then I read a article about the guy who voices Nathan Drake saying that he'd return under certain conditions if he's asked.

Shaun Escayg, Escayg, um, will direct the new Uncharted, having previously helmed Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, the standalone expansion which starred Chloe Frazer and Nadine Ross.

Escayg briefly left Naughty Dog to become the creative director of Crystal Dynamics' failed live service game, Marvel's Avengers.

So Uncharted may be back.

We as a podcast recently finished the Uncharted series, or at least the mainline games.