Rise of the Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics is hard at work on its upcoming Avengers game, and now the studio has expanded its ranks. The Square-Enix-owned Crystal Dynamics has a new studio in the Pacific Northwest. Appropriately titled Crystal Northwest, this new team is located in Bellevue, Washington,and will act as a satellite studio for Crystal Dynamics in Redwood Shores.
Crystal Northwest is described as a “full-fledged extension of Crystal Dynamics” and is dedicated initially to technology development. According to Crystal Dynamics, the new studio is already hard at work lending a hand on The Avengers Project. Sadly, this means the new studio probably won’t be working on a Gex reboot anytime soon. Crystal Northwest is led by Chad Queen and James Loe, who have been in the industry for 20 years.
In case you missed it, here is a trailer for The Avengers Project.
Crystal Northwest is not the only Crystal Dynamics expansion. The developer’s main studio in Redwood Shores has added dozens of new members to its team. Among them is new Combat Lead Designer Vincent Napoli, who comes off of the PlayStation 4’s God of War. Dead Space 3′s Creative Designer Ben Wanat also joined the team, along with David Fifield, who was 343 Studios’ Halo Executive Producer and Design Director and a Raven Software Call of Duty Game Director. Additional hires include people from EA, Naughty Dog, and Pixar.
Co-Head of Studio at Crystal Dynamics Ron Rosenberg said, “Our new studio in Bellevue, and the new hires at Redwood Shores, represent our continued commitment to the most ambitious project we’ve ever created. We’ll keep building on the exciting growth Crystal Dynamics has experienced over the last several years, and are eager to deliver a world-class Avengers experience for fans around the world.”
Following the announcement of the Avengers Project in 2017, no other information has been released about the game. While there has been some behind the scenes news and even one intriguing rumor, virtually nothing is known. We do know that Square-Enix has a “multi-year, multi-game creative partnership” with Marvel and Disney, so there are most likely other titles in the works at other studios.
While Crystal Dynamics is hard at work on their Marvel game, Eidos Montreal has taken the reign of the Tomb Raider franchise. The newest entry in the long-running franchise, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, is set to come out September 14, 2018.
If you’re worried about getting your Marvel video game fix, don’t be too concerned. Marvel’s Spider-Man, from Insomniac games, is coming out on September 7, 2018 to be exact. Ironically, that’s only a week before Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Don’t expect it to be connected to the Square-Enix Marvel games, however.
