Tomb Raider: Anniversary
"Tomb Raider" is the first game in the titular franchise, and introduced the series' gameplay standards and its protagonist Lara Croft. Developed by British studio Core Design, "Tomb Raider" was a commercial and critical success, and was followed by five successive games between 1996 and 2000. Their sixth "Tomb Raider" game "" was beset by developmental problems and rushed to release, resulting in low sales and mixed critical reception. The game's failure and Core Design's fatigue with the series prompted franchise publisher Eidos Interactive to move development of "Tomb Raider" to the American studio Crystal Dynamics, who rebooted the franchise with "". "Legend" released in 2006 to critical and commercial success.
Tomb Raider
After the critical backlash of "The Angel of Darkness", Eidos decided to take production of the "Tomb Raider" series out of Core Design's hands and give it to another subsidiary studio. Production of the next game was given to Crystal Dynamics, a studio that had made its name with the "Legacy of Kain" series. Eidos CEO Ian Livingstone stated that while the critical failure of "The Angel of Darkness" was a major reason for taking the series away from Core Design, the decision was also motivated by their inordinate struggles with developing for the PlayStation 2, and by how many members of the Core team had complained that they were "burnt out" on "Tomb Raider". He added that "For a UK company, moving the development of its prized asset from Derby to California was a big decision to make but, as it turned out, absolutely the right one to make." One of the main priorities for both Eidos and Crystal Dynamics was to regain the fanbase's trust in the brand, along with helping the series reclaim the status and selling power it had before "The Angel of Darkness" release. Their main goal was to put Lara back inside tombs, with their physics-based engine enabling more intricate puzzles. After "Legend" was finished, the team decided to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the series by remaking the original game, rebuilding the environments and redesigning the story to fit in with the events and gameplay of "Legend". Alongside the development of "Anniversary", an entry for seventh-generation hardware was in development, although it used established gaming architecture from "Legend" and this caused problems for the development team. In 2009, the year after the release of "Underworld", Eidos was bought by Square Enix and later renamed Square Enix Europe, giving Square Enix ownership of the "Tomb Raider" franchise.