Milham says he “had to jump on” the chance to helm Tomb Raider
Crystal Dynamics has announced that industry veteran Ian Milham has joined the studio in the role of Game Director on the Tomb Raider franchise, and Milham himself could not be happier.
“Adventure games have always been my first love,” said Milham. “When the opportunity came to join Crystal Dynamics, I had to jump on it. This is the home of Lara Croft, who is a legend in action-adventure gaming and a pillar of the industry. I’ve admired Crystal’s work for a while now … and I’m eager to be a part of it.”
Milham brings a pretty solid pedigree with him, having worked on Dead Space games at Electronic Arts, as part of the team that created the series and its sequels. For their part, Crystal Dynamics seems pretty stoked as well.
“Ian is one of those rare veterans who combines creativity, artistry, and passion into excellence on-screen. It’s a matching type of DNA that Crystal Dynamics has forged itself upon over these last few years,” says Scot Amos, co-Head of Studio. “We’re very excited to welcome Ian as the newest top-tier talent joining our studio.”
Let’s hope that Milham is indeed as good as he looks, because the Tomb Raider franchise is in pretty solid shape right now, and we would love to see it stay that way. After a patchy period that saw the series lose a lot of its original fan base, a reboot called simply Tomb Raider in 2013 failed to reignite passion due to a poor critical reception. But it’s sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, launched in 2015 as a timed Xbox One exclusive, was praised by reviewers and players alike for its beautiful visuals, solid gameplay and great story. Our own review here on COGconnected was among those that have it high marks, saying it was one of the best games of 2015.
Let’s hope Mr. Milham can pilot the franchise skillfully and keep the positive momentum going for Tomb Raider. This is one series that we would love to see more good things from.
SOURCE: Press Release