Celebrate 20 years of Tomb Raider with a great charity

By Gabe Gurwin March 29, 2016

rise of the tomb raider ps4 october riseofthetombraidernewlara — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The 2013 Tomb Raider reboot and last year’s Rise of the Tomb Raider may have reinvigorated the adventure series and made it a household name again, but Lara Croft has now been raiding tombs and shooting baddies for 20 years. To celebrate the milestone, publisher Square Enix and developer Crystal Dynamics have partnered with a charity to help ill children and give away lots of Tomb Raider goodies.

“We look forward to celebrating with fans, and honoring the iconic Lara Croft with special events, retrospectives, giveaways, and other surprises throughout this year of Tomb Raider,” says Crystal Dynamics’ Ron Rosenberg.

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While the first “major milestone” celebration will take place next month at PAX East, you can help celebrate 20 years of Tomb Raider right now, and contribute to a very good cause at the same time. GameChanger, a charity helping severely ill children, will be taking donations from March 29 (that’s today) through April 5. Donations of $1 or more will net you a free PC copy of the 2013 Tomb Raider, and donating more will enter you for a chance to win a collector’s edition of Rise of the Tomb Raider, an Xbox One, and other games and accessories.

GameChanger helps provide video games to children suffering from serious illnesses in addition to providing college scholarships and “hosting unique gaming events to connect patients and the gaming community.” This actually isn’t the first time the organization has partnered with Square Enix — a campaign back in June of last year offered a free copy of Deus Ex: Human Revolution to anyone who donated more than $1, as well.

And if helping GameChanger isn’t enough (it should be!), there is some other Tomb Raider news to get fans excited. Star Wars: The Force Awakens star Daisy Ridley has confirmed that she has begun talks to play Lara Croft in a new big screen adaptation. She would be taking over the role played by Angelina Jolie in the the previous films.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

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Square Enix has offloaded its North American operations as it announced the sale of Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal to Embracer Group today. The deal also nets Embracer Group over 50 notable franchises such as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain.
Crystal Dynamics is best known for its work on the Tomb Raider franchise, though it recently released the tumultuous live service Marvel's Avengers game. Eidos Montreal is behind series like Deus Ex and recently garnered critical acclaim following the release of Guardians of the Galaxy. Square Enix Montreal is a mobile-focused studio that makes games like Lara Croft GO and Hitman Sniper.

Embracer Group is purchasing the three studios, which employ over 1,100 developers, for only $300 million. The status of certain series like Sleeping Dogs and Gex, as well as the status of the Marvel deal that spawned Marvel's Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy game, are still in question. As of now, the only announced game from these studios is a brand-new Tomb Raider that will run on Unreal Engine 5, though the related press release says Crystal Dynamics is "actively working on several AAA projects."
Meanwhile, the announcement says the Eidos Montreal "is working on a host of AAA projects including both new releases from beloved franchises and original IP," and that Square Enix Montreal "will continue to develop and operate memorable mobile games based on AAA IP." Embracer is interested in these studios' potential to make single-player AAA titles for PC, consoles, and mobile and all of the classic series that come with them.
While it's not the best-known gaming company, Embracer Group is much bigger than you might think. This European holding company owns a massive range of developers and publishers from around the world. THQ Nordic, Deep Silver, Gearbox, Saber Interactive, Coffee Stain, and all of those studios' subsidiaries are owned by Embracer. The company even has holdings outside of video games, as it recently acquired Asmodee and Dark Horse.
These former Square Enix studios and the franchises that come with them will simply beef up the company's already massive offerings. Embracer and Square Enix expect this deal to close between July and September 2022.