Square Enix has announced the establishment of a new studio which will be a “full-fledged extension” of Crystal Dynamics. The Shadow of the Tomb Raider developer’s new studio, Crystal Northwest, officially begins operating today in Bellevue, Washington near Seattle. According to parent company Square Enix, Crystal Northwest was originally dedicated to technology development but is now poised to “deliver more expertise to the highly-anticipated The Avengers Project.
The press release (via Gematsu) reveals that Crystal Northwest will be led by games industry veterans with over 20 years of experience, which includes Chad Queen and James Loe. Square Enix has also taken this opportunity to announce that it has hired dozens of world-class game developers with credits in games like God of War, as well as the Dead Space, Halo, and Call of Duty franchises. These new hires will be working at Crystal Dynamic’s Redwood Shores, California headquarters. Crystal Dynamics studio co-head Ron Rosenberg talked about the new studios.
“Our new studio in Bellevue, and the new hires in Redwood Shores, represent our continued commitment to the most ambitious project we’ve ever created,” he said. “We’ll keep building on the exciting growth Crystal Dynamics has experienced over the last several years, and are eager to deliver a world-class Avengers experience for fans around the world.”
Not much has been revealed about The Avengers Project since it was initially announced in early 2017. Last month, a job posting on the developer’s website indicated that the upcoming game will be a live service of sorts. The job description states that the “Data Scientist” will be tracking “player acquisition, retention, and e-commerce.”
Besides that, we have had no other official details regarding the game, not even any confirmed platforms or a hint of a release window. All we have to go on is still just the short announcement trailer, which you can rewatch again below.
