Crystal Dynamics Cuts 20 More Staff in Fourth Round of Layoffs This Year

Twelve months ago, Crystal Dynamics laid off 17 people. Then came August. Then November's cut of around 30. Now the Embracer-owned Tomb Raider studio has announced a fourth round, shedding 20 more staff across development and central operations and pushing the minimum confirmed total to at least 67 developers lost in a single year, a figure calculated by Wccftech based on the three rounds with publicly reported numbers.

The studio announced the cuts in a LinkedIn post on March 18. "Today, Crystal Dynamics is reducing its workforce by 20 talented team members, split between some development personnel and some central operations roles," the statement read. "This is a difficult day for our studio, and we never make these decisions lightly, particularly after the restructuring we underwent last year."

The studio cited shifting project phases as the driver. "As our current projects move into new phases of development, we continuously take a hard look at our team structures to ensure they align with our long-term studio goals. While we always strive to transition our people into new roles whenever possible, we have unfortunately reached a point where these departures are necessary."

The August 2025 round, for which Crystal Dynamics never disclosed a specific headcount, followed closely after Microsoft cancelled its Perfect Dark reboot, a project Crystal Dynamics had been co-developing. That cancellation left the studio carrying a significant chunk of work with no title to show for it, and layoffs followed within weeks.

Crystal Dynamics is currently in development on two announced Tomb Raider titles: Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, a reimagining of the original 1996 game, and Tomb Raider: Catalyst, a new entry in the series. Both were revealed at The Game Awards in December. The studio was direct in its LinkedIn post about community concern, saying: "We know that news like this can cause concern amongst our community. Crystal Dynamics remains fully committed to the future development of our already announced Tomb Raider titles."

Departing employees will receive severance and job placement assistance. The studio also used its LinkedIn post to solicit help from the broader industry: "If you have openings or know of positions for talented developers, please contact us and we'll connect them."

Rock Paper Shotgun's Mark Warren, covering the announcement, offered this summary of the situation: "Here's hoping the Embracer Group-owned studio can stop chucking people's livelihoods into the sun soon." Whether two major Tomb Raider projects can reach completion with a workforce this reduced is the question the studio's 2026 releases will ultimately have to answer.