Aside from Tomb Raider I–III Remastered earlier this year, Lara Croft has largely been absent from the gaming realm since Shadow of the Tomb Raider was released in 2018. Crystal Dynamics’ new Tomb Raider game was announced in 2022, which will be published by Amazon Games. While that title has yet to be officially unveiled, Amazon Games has confirmed that the next game in the franchise won’t be connected to the new live-action Tomb Raider series at Prime Video.
While speaking with Variety, Amazon Games’ Christoph Hartmann stressed that transmedia franchises are important to the company. But he also indicated that doesn’t mean the Tomb Raider game and the show will be linked.
“Obviously, we want to work much closer together, and we’ll be working much closer together with the different entertainment areas Amazon has and a very natural one is Prime Video,” explained Hartmann. “You see it with Tomb Raider, where we’re gonna have a Tomb Raider game coming and they’re doing a show. And some people say, ‘Oh, will they be linked together?'”
Hartmann used Marvel’s Spider-Man as an example of a franchise that has its films, animated shows, and video games separate, while still maintaining consistency and a high level of fan interest.
“It does not need to be always that everything is mingled together, but it’s really one brand, which really just shows for me why transmedia nowadays is so important, and how games is such a vital part.”
Neither the new Tomb Raider game nor the live-action series will be released any time soon. However, Netflix’s animated series, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, will premiere later this year.
