Toby Gard, the designer of Lara Croft and the original Tomb Raider game in 1995, has left California, US-based Crystal Dynamics, the most recent developer of the series.
Gard began working directly with Crystal Dynamics as a game consultant for Eidos in August 2004 on the reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise that resulted in TR Legend.
From April 2007 to January 2009 he was employed full time as director of cinematics at Crystal Dynamics, co-writing the story for TR Underworld and directing the game’s cutscenes.
Most recently, from January until September of this year, Gard was lead designer on an unannounced Crystal Dynamics project. But earlier this month he left the developer to provide consultancy services “covering all aspects of game design”, according to his Linkedin business profile.
Crystal Dynamics, which is now owned by Square Enix following the Japanese publisher’s takeover of Eidos, has downsized twice this year following weaker than expected sales of Tomb Raider Underworld. In January the developer axed 30 staff and in June it cut a further 25.