Key Highlights:
- Crystal Dynamics teased a secret Tomb Raider announcement in December 2012 that promised to change how players experienced the series.
- Multiplayer was among the possibilities being discussed before the feature was officially confirmed later that month.
- Tomb Raider ultimately introduced competitive multiplayer developed by Eidos-Montréal alongside its single-player campaign.
Crystal Dynamics teased a “super secret” announcement for Tomb Raider in December 2012, promising something that would change the way players experienced the long-running series.
The tease appeared during The Final Hours of Tomb Raider, the behind-the-scenes documentary series hosted by actor Zachary Levi. Details were deliberately withheld, leaving players to speculate about what Crystal Dynamics had planned for Lara Croft’s upcoming reboot.
One possibility was particularly interesting: multiplayer.
At the time, competitive multiplayer would have represented a significant departure for the main Tomb Raider series. Other possibilities being discussed included additional platform support and new ways of interacting with the game, but nothing had been confirmed.
The multiplayer speculation ultimately proved correct.
On 27 December, UK retailer GAME appeared to reveal the answer early by listing multiplayer as a feature of Tomb Raider. The listing described modes involving Lara’s shipmates and the island’s Scavengers before the multiplayer details were removed. Crystal Dynamics global brand director Karl Stewart confirmed the feature the following day.
Development of the multiplayer component was handled by Eidos-Montréal rather than the main Crystal Dynamics team. The studio built competitive modes around the game’s survival theme while Crystal Dynamics remained focused on the single-player campaign.
Further details followed in January 2013 through The Final Hours of Tomb Raider: Multiplayer Edition. The finished game included competitive multiplayer alongside Lara Croft’s single-player origin story when Tomb Raider launched for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on 5 March 2013.
What began as a deliberately vague December tease therefore turned out to be one of the reboot’s biggest departures from previous mainline Tomb Raider games.
