Square Enix Plugs Into Lara Croft

Eidos-owned Square Enix is developing another "Tomb Raider" video game that will 'reinvent' protagonist 'Lara Croft' with a new origin story.

"Tomb Raider", featuring a younger Croft, is in development with Redwood City-based Crystal Dynamics. The game will be the first Lara Croft game since the completion of Square Enix's buyout of UK-based Eidos Interactive in 2009 for $117 million.

"Forget everything you knew about 'Tomb Raider'," said Crystal Dynamics head Darrell Gallagher. "We are exploring things that have never been done before..."

"...After a brutal storm destroys the boat she was traveling on, a frightened young woman is left washed ashore on an unknown beach. On her own but not alone she has only one goal, to survive. Here begins the first adventure for a young and inexperienced 'Lara Croft' in a story which charts the journey of an ordinary woman who finds out just how far she must go in order to stay alive..."

The first "Tomb Raider" game launched in 1996, and the franchise was developed by Eidos studio Core Design until 2003, when Eidos moved development of the series to Crystal Dynamics, which has developed "Tomb Raider: Legend", "Anniversary", "Underworld" and recently, the downloadable "Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light".

According to Square Enix, the "Tomb Raider" video game franchise, which spun-off two feature films starring actress Angelina Jolie, has sold over 35 million units.

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