- Crystal Dynamics
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Crystal Dynamics Type Subsidiary of Square Enix Industry Computer and video games Founded 1992 Headquarters Redwood City, California, U.S. Key people Judy Lang
Madeline Canepa
Dave MorseParent Square Enix Website http://www.crystald.com/ Crystal Dynamics is an American video game developer based in the San Francisco Bay Area and founded in 1992 by Judy Lang, Madaline Canepa and Dave Morris.[1] It was acquired by Eidos Interactive, a British video game publisher, in 1998 and, following Square Enix's acquisition of Eidos in 2009, is now a subsidiary of Square Enix.[2]
Crystal Dynamics was formed in mid-1992 by Sega veterans Judy Lang (sales and acting CEO), Madeline Canepa (marketing) and Dave Morse (Amiga). Crystal was the first licensed developer for 3DO, a gaming hardware platform simultaneously funded by Kleiner Perkins.
In 1993 Strauss Zelnick, then president of 20th Century Fox's film studio, was hired to run Crystal Dynamics. This made national news and helped to touch off the frenzy of multimedia investments of the mid-1990s.
3DO's launch during the 1993 Christmas season was a commercial failure, undermining Crystal's one-platform software strategy. Zelnick, Lange and Mark Cerny all resigned at about this time.
The next strategy was to become a leading publisher for two new 32-bit, 3D-capable consoles, the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn. Randy Komisar was hired away from LucasArts in 1994 to replace Zelnick as CEO. Crystal Dynamics expanded to a staff of 140, and shipped some of the world's first PlayStation and Saturn games for Christmas 1994. However, losses continued to mount.
Sony Computer Entertainment America, which had the power to set both retail price and cost of goods for licensed publishers of PlayStation games, dictated a reduced retail price for such games. This reduced the contribution margin of Crystal Dynamics games to a point where the company could not make money on its existing sales and cost structure.
In May 1996, with more than $80M gone and no route to profitability in sight, Kleiner Perkins pulled the plug on the publishing strategy laid out two years earlier. Komisar and most senior management resigned within a few days, and forty percent of the staff was laid off. Crystal was recast as a boutique game developer, and buyers were sought. Eidos finally bought the firm in 1998.
Crystal Dynamics has developed games both for the PC and for various consoles. At one time Crystal Dynamics was also a publisher, mostly publishing games that it had developed itself. However, it also published several games developed by other companies.
Crystal Dynamics headquarters in Redwood City
Crystal Dynamics had been most well known for developing the Legacy of Kain and Gex series, but in 2003 the studio was entrusted the development of the best-selling Tomb Raider franchise after original developer Core Design failed to gain critical or commercial success with their later Tomb Raider games, and released in 2006 its first game in the series, Tomb Raider: Legend, which was the fastest selling game in the entire series, with more than 2.6 million units sold worldwide.[3] Crystal Dynamics recently co-developed Tomb Raider: Anniversary with developer Buzz Monkey Software. Tomb Raider: Anniversary, a remake of the first Tomb Raider game from 1996, was released in June 2007. The next installment, Tomb Raider Underworld, was released on November 2008 on next-generation consoles.[4]
As of April 2, 2007, Crystal Dynamics is now located in Redwood City at 1300 Seaport Blvd. The company left its Menlo Park location after nine years as it had outgrown its office space. Crystal Dynamics shares its new office space with Eidos's North American office which had previously been located in San Francisco before April 2, 2007.
Contents
Games
Crystal Dynamics games Name Platform(s) Year(s) Crash n' Burn 3DO 1993 Cyberclash 3DO 1993 Sample This! (commercial sample title) 3DO 1993 Gex 3DO, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, PC 1994 Off-World Interceptor 3DO 1994 Star Control II 3DO 1994 The Horde 3DO, Sega Saturn, SNES, PC 1994 Total Eclipse 3DO 1994 Solar Eclipse Sega Saturn, unreleased for 3DO 1995 Total Eclipse Turbo PlayStation 1995 3D Baseball PlayStation, Sega Saturn 1996 Blazing Dragons PlayStation, Sega Saturn 1996 Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain PC, PlayStation 1996 Pandemonium PlayStation, Saturn, NGage, PC, iPhone OS 1996 Slam 'N Jam '96 featuring Magic and Kareem PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC 1996 Titan Wars PlayStation 1995 Off-World Interceptor Extreme PlayStation 1997 Pandemonium 2 PlayStation, PC 1997 Gex: Enter the Gecko PlayStation, N64, PC 1998 The Unholy War PlayStation 1998 Akuji the Heartless PlayStation 1999 Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko PlayStation, N64 1999 Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver PC, PlayStation, Dreamcast 1999 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue PlayStation, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color 2000 Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing Tour Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, PlayStation 2000 Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 PC, PlayStation 2 2001 Mad Dash Racing Xbox 2001 Blood Omen 2: Legacy of Kain Xbox, PC, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube 2002 Legacy of Kain: Defiance PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox 2003 Whiplash Xbox, PlayStation 2 2003 Project Snowblind PC, Xbox, PlayStation 2 2005 Tomb Raider: Legend PlayStation 2, PSP, PC, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance 2006 Tomb Raider: Anniversary PlayStation 2, PSP, PC, Xbox 360, Wii, Mac OS X, Mobile phone 2007 Tomb Raider: Underworld PlayStation 3, PC, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2 2008 Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light PlayStation 3, PC, Xbox 360, iPhone OS 2010 The Tomb Raider Trilogy PlayStation 3 2011 Tomb Raider PlayStation 3, PC, Xbox 360 2012 Name Platform(s) Year(s) Future
From January 2009 to June 2009, Crystal Dynamics laid off 55 employees to refocus their efforts on the Tomb Raider series only.[5] They are currently working on a new Tomb Raider video game.
References
- ^ http://www.mobygames.com/company/crystal-dynamics-inc
- ^ James Ransom-Wiley. "Eidos dissolved into 'Square Enix Europe,' layoffs likely". Joystiq. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/07/eidos-dissolved-into-square-enix-europe-layoffs-likely.
- ^ "Eidos/SCi Trading Update". http://corporate.sci.co.uk/Press_Releases/PressReleasesDetail.aspx?Press_Release_ID=221. Retrieved 2007-03-17.
- ^ "SCI Entertainment - Final Results" (Press release). SCi Entertainment. 2006-09-27. http://miranda.hemscott.com/servlet/HsPublic?context=ir.access&ir_option=RNS_NEWS&item=36352603381022&ir_client_id=3144. Retrieved 2006-04-11.
- ^ Rob Crossley. "Further layoffs at Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics". Develop. http://www.developmag.com/news/32150/Further-layoffs-at-Tomb-Raider-developer-Crystal-Dynamics.
External links
- Official website
- Crystal Dynamics profile on MobyGames
- Crystal Dynamics at GameSpot
Square Enix Main subsidiaries Taito • Square Enix Europe (Eidos Interactive · Beautiful Game Studios · Crystal Dynamics · IO Interactive · Rocksteady Studios (part-owned)) • DigiCube (defunct) • Quest (defunct)Lists of video games Other related articles Compilation albums • Companion books • DigiCube discography • DS:Style • Gangan Comics • Localization of Square Enix video games • PlayOnlineSee also Category: Square Enix.Tomb Raider series Video games Main seriesFirst eraTomb Raider (1996) · Tomb Raider II (1997) · Tomb Raider III (1998) · The Last Revelation (1999) · Chronicles (2000) · The Angel of Darkness (2003)Second eraLegend (2006) · Anniversary (2007) · Underworld (2008)Third eraTomb Raider (2012)Spin-offsTomb Raider (2000) · Curse of the Sword (2001) · The Prophecy (2002) · Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (2010)Films Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (soundtrack) · The Cradle of Life (soundtrack)Other media Revisioned: Tomb Raider Animated Series · Ten Years of Tomb Raider: A GameTap Retrospective · The Action Adventure (interactive DVD) · Tomb Raider (comic books)Characters Related articles List of media · Core Design · Crystal Dynamics · Toby Gard · Jonell Elliott · Keeley Hawes · Karima Adebibe · Alison Carroll · Angelina JolieLegacy of Kain series Game chronology Blood Omen · Soul Reaver · Soul Reaver 2 · Blood Omen 2 · DefianceCharacters Developers Categories:- Companies established in 1992
- Video game companies of the United States
- Video game developers
- Companies based in Redwood City, California
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