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Lara Croft was about to have a Latin name… but they didn’t trust the English-speaking audience

What if we told you that she was not originally called that nor was she everyone’s favorite archaeologist, but they changed it at the last minute because they believed that the English public would not be able to pronounce a Latin name?

‘Tomb Raider‘ made history in the world of video games. Released on October 25, 1996, for the first PlayStation, it became a global phenomenon. It was entertaining, with original puzzles, and Lara Croft was charismatic in her own right. But… what if we told you that originally, it wasn’t called that, and it wasn’t about everyone’s favorite archaeologist, but they changed it at the last moment because they believed the English-speaking audience wouldn’t be able to pronounce a Latin name?

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Grave Robber

In fact, the first conceptual art featured, almost literally, Indiana Jones. A muscular and adventurous man whose image they had to change for legal reasons. So they decided to let the player choose the gender, and as the female option, they chose an athletic girl named Laura Cruz, who won over the developers so much that they decided to stick with her.

That’s the nice version of the story, but not the real one: it turns out that when they realized that having two distinct characters meant doing twice the animations and actions, they decided to turn around and stick with just one of them. And with a woman, there was no problem of Lucasfilm accusing them of plagiarism. Two birds with one stone.

However, they soon realized that Americans wouldn’t know how to pronounce the “u” in the name, so to save themselves headaches, they decided to change it to Lara. The last name came from the Eidos executives themselves, who, upon acquiring the game, insisted on having an American last name. And from “Cruz” to “Croft” isn’t that big of a leap after all. If anyone asks, we’ll say her name is Laura Cruz, okay?

By the way, the surname “Croft” wasn’t exactly a stroke of originality: the team took it from the phone book, and that change in her backstory helped shape her personality. It’s not the same to be a Latina archaeologist as it is to be an Englishwoman raiding tombs and taking whatever she finds, after all. The second option is profoundly real.

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Square Enix steps away from the Blockchain idea

Despite previous statements hinting at Square Enix embracing the blockchain, the Japanese entertainment conglomerate seems to be shifting its focus back to gaming and possibly venture capitalism. We previously reported that they sold Tomb Raider to focus on blockchain projects. But it seems they’re shifting direction.

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In a recent statement concerning the sale of Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix Montreal, and Eidos Montreal to Embracer, Square Enix hinted at an interest in exploring the blockchain. ‘The transaction enables the launch of new businesses by moving forward with investments in fields including blockchain, artificial intelligence, and the cloud.’

Tomb Raider sold so Square Enix can invest in blockchain projects READ MORE

Now, however, the Japanese entertainment conglomerate and powerhouse behind titles like Just Cause 4 seems to be shifting gear. A recent financial report supports the idea and suggests that revenue from the recent sale will be reinvested into Square Enix’s ‘core business.’

‘Rather than using the proceeds from the divestiture in new investment domains such as non-fungible tokens and the blockchain, we intend to use them primarily to fund our efforts to foster solid intellectual property and to enhance our development capabilities in our core digital entertainment segment.’

This statement from Square Enix’s President, Yosuke Matsuda, puts even more weight behind the idea that the company is refocussing its investments and opting to strengthen its primary business interests as opposed to speculating about the blockchain.

Matsuda elaborated on Square Enix’s future potential investments and even mentioned venture capitalism as an avenue the company is interested in pursuing. ‘Our intention is to undertake fundraising efforts for our new investment domains separate from those for our core business and we are considering various possibilities including potentially establishing a corporate venture capital fund.’

In addition to various new business opportunities, Matsuda says that Square Enix is also refocussing its gaming product retinue and future products on that front. He says that the company intends to ‘focus on creating new titles that align with our strategy including ones that leverage new intellectual property.’

He also notes that ‘the Just Cause franchise will remain our intellectual property and we are at work developing a new title in the franchise.’ Matsuda seems to be hinting at the upcoming Just Cause Mobile free-to-play shooter that is on schedule for release later this year. However, Square Enix could be working on something else Just Cause-related as well.

We’ll only know a little closer to the official release. In other Square Enix news, we’re still waiting with bated breath for any new morsels of information about Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis. We do, however, believe that the game could come as soon as September 2022, so we won’t be waiting much longer!

Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis gearing up for early release READ MORE

Tomb Raider sold so Square Enix can invest in blockchain projects

Square Enix has announced that it’s made a deal with Embracer Group for the sale of several of its studios, including Crystal Dynamics. While the sale affects many titles, one of them is the Tomb Raider franchise. The game publisher indicated it made the move so that it can increase cash flow and put funds toward potential blockchain projects.

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You may remember Crystal Dynamics as the game studio that breathed new life into the Lara Croft series. It started with the simply-named Tomb Raider, but soon expanded to Rise of the TombRaider and ended with Shadow of the Tomb Raider. As fans of Lara, we had so much joy playing all of these on our PlayStations and PCs. The gameplay was incredible and only became more exciting with each sequel.

After the Tomb Raider movie appeared, inspired by the Crystal Dynamics games, we wondered what would be next for Lara. What we didn’t expect was Square Enix signing a $300 million deal for such a popular character. It means they can no longer create any more Lara games or other merchandise related to them.

Crystal Dynamics is only one of the studios that Square Enix is selling. The other two are Square Enix Montréal and Eidos-Montréal. While Tomb Raider is big on the list, other brands leaving the company include Thief, Legacy of Kain, Deus Ex, Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Avengers.

The topic of blockchain in gaming is a sensitive one at the moment. Gamers haven’t completely accepted the idea as yet. While the Metaverse looks incredible and exciting, it will take some time before players are willing to switch to paying for microtransactions with cryptocurrency. Many of them don’t even know how to obtain Bitcoin or Ethereum as yet. The notion of NFTs in games is still new.

We noticed this weekend that Anthony Hopkins made a movie that you can now buy as an NFT. It means you’ll pay with crypto and effectively own the film on the blockchain. No one will be able to make a pirate copy, which is promising for future film production.

Fortnite creator Epic Games is also raising funds for a stake in the Metaverse. We don’t know what this means for Tomb Raider yet, but we’re excited to find out.