Some of the shine has already come off of Crystal Dynamics’ upcoming Tomb Raider reboot. During PlayStation’s recent State of Play presentation, the studio showed off a new trailer for Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. It’s been looking pretty great with its fancy Unreal Engine 5 makeover. But buried on the game’s Steam page, fans have now discovered an AI disclosure message stating that the controversial tech was used early on in the game’s development.
Here’s the full text of the disclosure:
AI-assisted tools were used during development to support some early exploration and temporary development content. Any AI-assisted assets were either replaced or refined by humans in order to maintain the creative and artistic vision of the development team.
GenAI slop potentially showing up in Tomb Raider is disappointing but maybe less surprising than it should be. Phil Rogers, CEO of Crystal Dynamics’ parent company, Embracer Group, last year called genAI a “powerful technology” for “driving efficiency.” Crystal Dynamics has also undergone several rounds of layoffs, completing three just last year and one earlier in 2026.
Those layoffs occurred alongside a larger restructuring at parent company Embracer Group, which was forced into fire-sale mode after its $2 billion deal with the Savvy Games Group—the gaming arm of the Saudi Arabia Private Investment Fund—reportedly fell through in 2023.
Beyond Crystal Dynamics, when Aspyr released Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered last year, Françoise Cadol, the French voice actress for Lara Croft, accused the studio of using genAI to alter her performance. Aspyr issued an apology along with a hotfix that removed “all AI voiceover content.” Fans also accused Aspyr of using genAI to create some seriously ugly costumes for Lara in Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered. Aspyr responded with a statement on Bluesky saying that no genAI was used in that case and that the costumes were “created by our team of artists.”
While the Legacy of Atlantis disclosure states that anything made by gen-AI was “refined” by humans, that’s not enough to stop some fans from checking out of the game entirely. Thankfully, if you’re just looking for a remake of the original Tomb Raider without pesky AI mucking it all up, there’s always 2007’s Tomb Raider: Anniversary.
Update 6/3/2026, 2:08 p.m. ET: Crystal Dynamics responded to concerns about the AI disclosure in a statement to Eurogamer. “At Crystal Dynamics, we leverage AI tools to help our teams iterate on ideas faster and more efficiently, while ensuring that all finished content in the final product is human-crafted,” a spokesperson for the company said. “Our goal is to empower the creativity and flexibility of our developers to deliver the highest-quality experiences for players everywhere.”
