It's the way of the world in these dour times, and here we have yet another round of bad industry news: Joystiq reports that Eidos has confirmed approximately 30 people were laid off at Tomb Raider Underworld developer Crystal Dynamics yesterday.

When asked why the cuts were made, an Eidos representative gave a curiously paradoxical answer: "We have increased the focus on the Tomb Raider franchise at Crystal Dynamics; regrettably this has resulted in the reduction in headcount." That logic doesn't seem to follow to us, and it's surprising Eidos didn't simply cite the same reason Midway, Electronic Arts, Free Radical, Factor 5, and Aspyr cited for their recent layoffs and financial troubles: the recession.

As Joystiq points out, these layoffs follow reports (via Edge-Online) that Eidos was disappointed with the sales of Tomb Raider Underworld during the holiday season. What's curious about that, though, is that it's not as if Underworld was a flop -- it sold 1.5 million copies, which is nothing to sneeze at. Makes you wonder just how well Eidos needed Underworld to sell for it to be considered a success...


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