Core Design

Core Design is a video game developer best known for creating the popular Tomb Raider series.

The studio is based in Derby, a city in the United Kingdom. It is owned by Eidos Interactive, having been part of distribution company CentreGold when Eidos acquired it in 1996. Eidos subsequently sold most of CentreGold, but retained Core Design. Core Design has produced a large number of games, but its most widely known creation is Tomb Raider series, which was released in 1996 and has been followed by several sequels. In 2003, however, Eidos took the Tomb Raider franchise away from Core Design after the latest installment, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, proved to be a commercial failure. The franchise was instead given to Crystal Dynamics, another Eidos-owned studio. This prompted many key members of the Core Design team to leave the company, establishing Circle Studio. Core Design still exists, but in a significantly reduced form.