Lara Croft could get a female-friendly makeover

Posted Jan 12th 2009 1:00PM by John Callaham
Filed under: Biz, Action

If you had a game that sold 1.5 million copies in a little over a month worldwide that would be considered by most to be a huge hit. Not so for Eidos who announced late last week that their latest Lara Croft-starring action game Tomb Raider Underworld reached that sales mark. Even so, those numbers were below the UK publisher's expectations. The lower numbers also caused 30 people to be laid off at Eidos' Crystal Dynamics development studio.

So what to do about that, you may ask? The UK based Times web site chatted with Eidos's CFO Robert Brent who stated, "We need to look at everything, as we develop the next game. Look at how Batman changed successfully, from the rather sad character of the Michael Keaton era to the noir style of The Dark Knight." The article speculates that the next Tomb Raider game could try to appeal to a more female audience rather than the male gamer that has influenced the series since its start. Does that also mean no more live action Lara Croft models that look like Allison Carroll?

Gallery: Tomb Raider: Underworld

Tags: crystal-dynamics, eidos, lara-croft, tomb-raider-underworld

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

That model is HOT

but I really don't care for Tomb Raider games, and I'm pretty sure there barely any people still buying these games because they think Lara Croft is hot, people are buying these games because they think they'll be good, kinda like Sonic, people just keep hoping that one of them will finally be good. Anyways I don't think changing what Lara Croft looks like will greatly effect the sales, the few women who buy this game will probably be proportional to the amount of men who would no longer buy this game due to Lara's looks.Posted at 2:59PM on Jan 12th 2009 by Alex

Man, this Eidos shit is starting to cheese me off. Underworld is a fantastic game and I enjoyed the shit out of it. Apparently, I'm not the only one as it sold a whopping 1.5 mil! So what does management do? Piss and moan publicly about 'poor sales' and slash the developer in half. WTF?! To me the problem isn't with the series or the developer but with their sales projections. Them ragging on their own game is costing them sales at the moment because it comes off as a 'disappointment' when in reality, Underworld is the best in the series. Eidos needs to STFU and be happy they have a best selling series like TR in their roster and a quality dev like Crystal Dynamics to bring it to life.

...bysmitttyPosted at 5:34PM on Jan 12th 2009 by bysmitty

My above rant aside, Eidos can muck with the character Lara all they want, that isn't why I love TR. I just hope they leave the gameplay alone as right now it is the perfect balance between platforming, puzzle, and a little gunplay. Uncharted was similar but shifted the focus to gunplay and totally lost me. I couldn't even finish the demo let alone bother buying the full game. Eidos can give Lara a beer gut and Shane McGowan teeth (good imagine search it if your curious) for all I care, just leave the gameplay be.

...bysmittyPosted at 5:40PM on Jan 12th 2009 by bysmitty

This is just sad. I'm a girl and I LOVE the tomb raider games. I love how Lara looks. I make her costumes and model them at cons ang get great responcies from them. Newsflash no one wants a new Lara. She looks great how she is. If Edois is trying to appel to I don't know..feministts its never going to happen. Personally I think makeing her more female friendly will kill the game.Posted at 11:19AM on Jan 15th 2009 by alyssa

I have every TR game and I'm a woman. I enjoy the game for the graphics, writing and gameplay. I have always thought Lara looked a little ridiculous in those skimpy outfits and with mutant water balloon-esque breasts. I played one game where she had to grab a vine and swing across a cavern and basically slam into the wall on the other side and pull up. It just looked hysterical having her do that with those gigantor breasts. I mean imagine for a second having a male character have giant mutant testicles and then have him perform a move whereby he has to slam testicle-first into a log or something. Also the outfits weren't all that sensical considering Lara has to do all sorts of feats that would have her ripped to shreds if she wore so little. Imagine riding a motorcycle without leg protection. Yeah. I mean it's not as much the "looks" as it is the function. I think she should look functional yet stylish. Is it more "female" to want some LOGIC in the way she dresses? If so, I guess logic is a female trait.Posted at 10:38PM on Jan 15th 2009 by Momo