Crystal Dynamics Opening New Studio In Washington

Crystal Dynamics, developers of the past two major Tomb Raider titles, is opening a satellite location in Bellevue, Washington. 

Although the studio is not leading work on Shadow of the Tomb Raider (that game is helmed by Eidos Montreal), the upcoming Avengers Project and other unannounced projects are labor-intensive enough that Crystal Dynamics has decided to aggressively scale up. 

In both the new location and the team's base in Redwood Shores, California, Crystal Dynamics are gathering industry veterans. Among their new hires are Vincent Napoli (combat designer for God of War), and Ben Wanat (co-founder of Dead Space). 

Our Take
We've only seen a brief teaser for Crystal Dynamic's Avengers Project, and it sounds like that's only one of the many games being worked on there. Obviously, the studio feels that it can afford to plan for future success; I hope it'll be proven right.