It’s “a Great Time” for New IPs, says Crystal Dynamics

This year’s E3 can be called “The Great E3 Leakage,” or it could aslo be called “E3: The Sequel.” The biggest titles at this year’s expo were all sequels, from Far Cry 3, Dead Space 3, Assassin’s Creed 3, to Halo 4, Lords of Shadow 2, Resident Evil 6, and god just tack a number onto the end of any game title and call it good. Go ahead and make quips about how this is the death of creativity, but at least some studios are willing to take risks. We’ve already seen several this year: Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma, which was recently announced to have done quite well internationally, and Ubisoft’s surprising Watch Dogs, among others.

According to Tomb Raider‘s rebooting studio Crystal Dynamics, now is the perfect time to toss these new IPs out into the fray. With the curtains drawing to an inevitable close on current-gen hardware, and with the power showing of next-gen software like Epic’s Unreal Engine 4, we’ve all got to agree: the launch of next-gen consoles will need a lot of fresh new titles out on the market. Trilogies all have to end sometimes, right?

“…we have all these great IP, now is a great time, looking at what’s coming in the future, what’s coming up in the console space, what’s going to be happening next,” said CD’s executive producer Scott Amos in a podcast (via VG 247). “Let’s start now, with a blank page.

“I think it’s an interesting combination of both Square’s perspective and Crystal’s perspecive. Seeing the studio and what they’ve done, they have a panetheon of great properties, if you just look through the history of all the games that they’ve made and that they have, and that they still have. They’re even, as you know, doing some very new versions of those games.”

With all of this creativity overflowing, it’s definitely time to step it up and create something entirely new. It might seem like a risky move, but who knows. You could tank it hard, but at the very same time, you could also win it big. Crystal Dynamics knows the risks that comes with making new IP, and they’re not afraid to go headfirst into it.

“We take that kind of bold step of, let’s make something new, something where we don’t already have a finger in that particular pool, and let’s try, from scratch, to make a new game with all of our ability and skills,” said Amos. “What would be a new great experience for our future?”

When asked about what former God of War 2 director Cory Barlog is up to these days, Amos couldn’t say anything more than they’re coffee chums.

“Once in a while we might pass each other in the coffee shop area, but at the same time, he’s on something else, so he’s not part of my new IP,” said Amos.

Via CVG.