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Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix’s Tomb Raider studio, will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2012, a post at the Square Enix Members Europe blog reveals. While Crystal Dynamics will spend 2012 preparing Tomb Raider for release, they’ll also introduce a new I.P. this year.
In 2011, Square Enix said their plan for the future was to focus on ten strong franchises. Here’s a chart they showed last May, sharing which studios were working on what properties:
Since then, we’ve seen a few developments, which might mean that the chart is now outdated. For instance, in addition to Deus Ex, Eidos Montréal are working on Thief 4 and a third major project as well, for which Square Enix will create 100 new jobs at the studio. A quick look at their Jobs page shows that a fourth and fifth project are in the works, too.
Additionally, Square also recently set up a second studio in Montréal, dubbed Square Enix Montréal. At present, this studio is assisting IO Interactive with the development of Hitman: Absolution, as well as developing their own separate Hitman game, possibly titled Hitman: Profession.
Finally, there’s also Square Enix London Studios, who are now overseeing the development of True Crime: Hong Kong, which they revived after the original publisher, Activision, cancelled development. We’re not sure if that counts as a new I.P. or not, but Square will be releasing the title under a different name, as they didn’t purchase the True Crime brand itself.
In November, Square Enix president, Yoichi Wada, stated that the company would reveal 2-3 new properties “within a few years”. It sounds like we’ll get to see at least one of those this year.
