Xbox Addict

Crystal Dynamics Expands its' Developer Footprint

Crystal Dynamicshas expanded with key new hires at its Redwood Shores headquarters and the creation of a new Bellevue, Washington satellite studio: Crystal Northwest.

The new studio in the Seattle area is officially up and running as of today, and is a full-fledged extension of Crystal Dynamics. Dedicated initially to technology development, it delivers even more expertise to the highly-anticipated Avengers Project. Led by 20-year industry veterans Chad Queen and James Loe, the new studio bolsters the development of future games, tools, and technology.

In addition to the new studio, Crystal Dynamics has added best-in-class more development talent to its Redwood Shores, California headquarters. These new additions will strengthen the teams on both current and future projects.

Among the dozens of new hires are:

• Vincent Napoli, the new Lead Combat Designer at Crystal Dynamics who was most recently on the latest God of War

• Ben Wanat, an 18-year industry veteran and an original co-founder of the Dead Space franchise, who led the development of Dead Space 3 as Creative Director

• David Fifield, who sports 20 years of experience as Executive Producer and Design Director at 343 Industries on Halo, as well as Game Director at Raven Software on numerous Call of Duty titles.

It was stated that Crystal Dynamics continues to attract the best and the brightest talent across all disciplines, many recently hailing from the likes of Naughty Dog, Pixar, EA, and many more.

So, there you have it, the studio that once made Gex, 50 Cent’s "25 to life, and Blood Omen: Legacy of Cain, to name a few, contilnues to grow as it get’s set to release the next Tomb Raider game and develops a yet to be named Marvel game.