[Infernal Mass]

Tomb Raider Creators Found New Studio

1/16/2004

Tomb Raider co-creator Jeremy Heath-Smith and fellow Core Design executive producer Adrian Smith have founded their own independent development company, the two announced today. Circle Studio, as it's called, will be staffed by some 35 ex-Core Design personnel, currently working on two projects for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
"Adrian and I are still passionate about games and have the experience and skills in-house to continue producing original and successful titles," said Heath-Smith in today's announcement. "We've enjoyed working with Lara these past seven years but are looking forward to creating something or someone new."


Heath-Smith, Smith, and character designer Toby Gard (who left Core some years ago to found his own company, Confounding Factor, and create the long-delayed 3D action game Galleon) were key figures in the early days of Core Design and in particular the creation of its most famous game.

Core's fortunes fell in more recent years, however, after a string of critically and commercially unsuccessful titles. Heath-Smith stepped down from his position on the boards of both Eidos Interactive and Core Design following last year's release of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. Eidos then handed responsibility for the Tomb Raider franchise to American developer Crystal Dynamics, fueling speculation that Core was very much on the outs with its publisher.

The departure of the two executive producers and their 35 fellow staff members means that Core has almost halved in size. The current company profile on the Core webpage states that the company is (or was) made up of 90 staff members, 80 of them actively involved in development.

In addition to its two projects for current platforms, which we'll likely hear more about later in the year, Circle Studio is also working towards projects for the next generation of consoles from Sony and Microsoft.

I still am a fan of the Smith brothers, they may have failed hard with TR:AOD..although they did create some great adventures in the past with Lara.

I'm optimistic that they'll do well, now that they have thier own!..independent studio, they're now in charge of their own projects..no rushing projects from the bigheads of Sony or Eidos.