Jeff Ross, director of Days Gone, will move this summer to settle in one of the Crystal Dynamics studios. Did you say Tomb Raider?
The video game transfer window resumes. After two sabbatical years, the director of Days Gone has found a new studio to settle in. He finally set his sights on Crystal Dynamics, to whom we owe the latest Tomb Raider.
From Days Gone to Tomb Raider?
A new chapter begins for Jeff Ross. After having spent all his professional life at Bend Studio, the director of Days Gone changed course, towards Crystal Dynamics. The Oregon man will move to Seattle this summer to join the studio’s Northwest branch working on the new Tomb Raider. He will officiate there as director of design, but it is not yet known what project he has been assigned to.
Naturally, all eyes are on the next Tomb Raider, which will run on Unreal Engine 5. Especially since the timing is suspicious. His tweet announcing the news comes a few hours after the conference around the Epic Games engine. As the game is only in the early stages of development, this could coincide. Especially since his expertise in the open world could mark a turning point for the franchise.
The Perfect Dark hypothesis
Another possibility, Perfect Dark. Site too complex for The Initiative, the new Xbox studio is finally supported by Crystal Dynamics. Another solution, Jeff Ross could put his knowledge at the service of another unannounced project commissioned by Square Enix. We can already hear some fans whispering about Deus Ex, which has been forgotten for six years already. According to the posts relayed, the project is only in its infancy with a few key positions to be filled.
As a reminder, Jeff Ross had announced his departure from Bend Studio in December 2020 after having tried to sell his vision of Days Gone 2 to Sony, in vain. The project was ultimately aborted. Since then he had mainly been talked about for his speeches on social networks, where he notably deplored the lack of recognition of his baby compared to other PlayStation exclusives like Death Stranding and Ghost of Tsushima.
