GAME · 2013
Tomb Raider
- Developer
- Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, Nixxes Software
- Publisher
- Square Enix, Eidos Interactive
- Platforms
- Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, macOS
31 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
16 Facts From the Development of Tomb Raider
- #001
Following Tomb Raider: Underworld, Crystal Dynamics was divided into two teams, with one team starting work on the next main Tomb Raider game and the other on the new Lara Croft spin-off series, which debuted with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light in 2010.
- #002
Square Enix filed for a trademark on the slogan "A Survivor is Born" for the new Tomb Raider game in November 2010, after pre-announcement media hype while the game's title was under embargo.
- #003
In January 2012, Crystal Dynamics global brand director Karl Stewart said there were no plans to release Tomb Raider on Nintendo's Wii U console. He explained that a simple port would not be right, since the game was built to be platform-specific before the Wii U was announced, and that building for the platform would have required a very different approach with unique functionality.
- #004
The multiplayer mode of Tomb Raider was created by the Canadian studio Eidos-Montréal, known for Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
- #005
Tomb Raider was delayed in May and rescheduled for the first quarter of 2013. Darrell Gallagher stated that the team was doing things that were completely new for the title, which was the reason for the delay.
- #007
Tomb Raider was developed on Crystal Dynamics' game engine known as "Foundation".
- #009
A CGI teaser trailer titled "Turning Point" premiered at E3 in June 2011, produced by Square Enix's CGI studio Visual Works, and highlighted a release date in the third quarter of 2012.
- #014
A gameplay trailer for Tomb Raider was released online in May 2012, showing more action-based gameplay and varying plot elements. It confirmed that several non-playable characters besides Lara would appear on the island, many seemingly part of a menacing organization.
- #015
At Microsoft's E3 2012 press conference on 4 June, a new Tomb Raider gameplay demonstration showed environmental destruction, stealth combat with a bow and arrow, quick-time events and parachuting.
- #016
A new Tomb Raider trailer aired during the Spike Video Game Awards on 8 December, introduced by Camilla Luddington and followed by a musical orchestra led by composer Jason Graves. The game went gold on 8 February 2013.
- #017
Jason Graves composed the soundtrack for Tomb Raider, having previously worked on Dead Space and its sequels, F.E.A.R. 3 and Star Trek: Legacy.
- #018
The Tomb Raider: Original Soundtrack was released on 5 March 2013, the same day as the game's worldwide release.
- #020
A December 2010 Game Informer podcast featured a sneak peek at a track from Tomb Raider composed by Aleksandar Dimitrijevic. Crystal Dynamics global brand director Karl Stewart later clarified that Alex Dimitrijevic was hired to score the trailer, not the game, as no official composer had been found.
- #021
After the Tomb Raider trailer premiered in June 2011, Karl Stewart said the final Turning Point score was not a piece Alex Dimitrijevic had worked on.
- #022
Crystal Dynamics community manager Meagan Marie wrote on the Tomb Raider blog that the goal was to release a soundtrack.
- #023
Karl Stewart described the composer behind the Tomb Raider trailer as completely new and brought in to work on the game as well as the trailer piece, adding that a bigger announcement would come later in the year.
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Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work