Amazon Games will publish the next Tomb Raider title

Amazon Games today announced that it will publish the next Tomb Raider game from Crystal Dynamics. Crystal Dynamics first teased this new Tomb Raider title during an Unreal Engine 5 showcase in March. Shortly thereafter, Square Enix sold Crystal Dynamics — as well as its sister studios Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal — to Embracer Group for $300 million. This obviously left the new Tomb Raider without a publisher, and rather than self-publishin,g Crystal Dynamics has decided to partner with Amazon Games. “With Amazon Games, we found a team that shares our creative vision, ambitions, and values for a Lara Croft universe across the spectrum of possibilities,” Crystal Dynamics head of studio Scot Amos said in a press release. “They’re uniquely positioned to rewrite what publishing and development collaborations are, and we’re eager to forge this new path together, starting with building the biggest and best Tomb Raider game yet.” Details on this new Tomb Raider are still quite scarce, but Crystal Dynamics does tease in the aforementioned press release that it is a single-player, narrative-focused game “that rewards exploration and creative pathfinding, with mind-bending puzzles to solve, and a wide variety of enemies to face and overcome.” The next Tomb Raider game is in “early development,” so it has no release date, but we do know that it will be a multiplatform release. Amazon Games has struggled to get a foothold in the gaming space despite setting up multiple game developers. It has found success in the MMO space with games like New World and Lost Ark though, and recently announced at The Game Awards its plans to publish anime-inspired MMO Blue Protocol in 2023. This Tomb Raider game will likely be Amazon Games’ next big chance to make a good impression in the single-player gaming space. An email from an Amazon Games public relations representative to Digital Trends also teased that “the Amazon Games internal studios in Montreal and San Diego are still hard at work on several unannounced projects.” We all have a list of upcoming video games that we’re eagerly awaiting getting our hands on. Waiting is always the hardest part, but Valve tries to make that wait a little bit more bearable with its Steam Next Fest events. Hosted multiple times a year, this gives PC players a chance to play demos for a ton of upcoming PC games while the celebration is going on. This is the perfect chance to get an early look at some games you have on your wishlist, but also get exposed to some new games you hadn’t heard of before. This is a major event with tons to do and not a lot of time to do it, so here are all the details you need about Steam Next Fest to make the most of it.
What is Steam Next Fest?
Steam Next Fest – February 2024 Edition Official Trailer In short, Steam Next Fest is an event Valve hosts during select times during the year where developers can all release demos for their upcoming games at once for everyone to see. The entire Steam page will be taken over with featured demos, streams, and more to encourage people to check out these projects and add them to their wishlists. It’s a new month, and that means a new lineup of games coming to Xbox Game Pass — including the long-awaited Avowed, Obsidian’s take on a fantasy RPG. Here are the titles and their respective release dates. Far Cry: New Dawn — February 4 (Standard, Ultimate, PC)
Another Crab’s Treasure — February 5 (Standard)
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes — February 5 (Standard)
Starfield — February 5 (Standard)
Madden NFL 25 — February 6 (Ultimate, PC)
Kingdom Two Crowns — February 13 (Standard)
Avowed — February 18 (Ultimate, PC) Palworld developer Pocketpair Inc. is starting a new publishing wing, fittingly dubbed Pocketpair Publishing. Its first announced partner is Tales of Kenzera: Zau developer Surgent Studios, as Pocketpair will publish a new horror game from the studio. Pocketpair rose to prominence in 2024 thanks to Palworld, a smash hit survival crafting game that draws clear inspiration from Pokémon. The studio has had a busy year since then, fighting off a lawsuit from Nintendo and partnering with Sony Music Entertainment to expand the Palworld brand. Now, the studio will grow once more as it looks to publish games under the company’s new arm.