Core Design

History

Core Design was founded on 13 May 1988 by nine people who had left Gremlin Graphics, a Derby-based developer known for its work on 8-bit home computers. The founders — Chris Shrigley, Andy Green, Rob Toone, Terry Lloyd, Simon Phipps, Dave Pridmore, Jeremy Heath-Smith, Kevin Norburn, and Greg Holmes — initially named the company Megabrite, but rebranded as Core Design in October of the same year. The studio was small, but its talent pool was experienced, and its ambitions were clear: to build a reputation for technically accomplished games on emerging platforms. The timing was deliberate; the late 1980s and early 1990s were years when the 16-bit Atari ST and Commodore Amiga were becoming the primary development targets for European studios, and Core Design positioned itself to take advantage.

The studio's first major release was Rick Dangerous (1989), an Indiana Jones-inspired platformer for the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga. It was a punishing, trap-filled side-scroller that demanded memorization and precision from players. The game sold well and established Core Design as a capable studio, though the mechanics — instant-death traps, limited lives, trial-and-error progression — were divisive. A sequel, Rick Dangerous 2, followed in 1990. Core Design continued to build its catalog through the early 1990s with titles such as Chuck Rock (1991), a comedic caveman platformer, and Thunderhawk (1992), a combat helicopter simulation that was one of the launch titles for the Amiga CD32. The studio was productive, technically competent, and commercially viable, but it had not yet produced anything that would define it.

In December 1994, Core Design was acquired by CentreGold, an umbrella company that provided financial backing and distribution support. Eighteen months later, in April 1996, CentreGold itself was acquired by Eidos Interactive, a British publisher that was aggressively expanding its portfolio of internal development studios. Core Design, now part of a larger corporate structure, had the resources to pursue a more ambitious project. That project was already in development.

Tomb Raider was released on 25 October 1996 for the Sega Saturn, followed shortly by versions for PlayStation and MS-DOS. The game was designed by Toby Gard, who served as lead artist, and developed by a small team over eighteen months beginning in late 1994. Gard's original concept had been a male protagonist with a whip and hat — a design that Core Design co-founder Jeremy Heath-Smith rejected as too derivative of Indiana Jones. Gard pivoted to a female lead, envisioning a character who was 'cool, collected, in control' — a heroine, not a stereotype. The result was Lara Croft, an English aristocrat and archaeologist rendered in low-polygon 3D with acrobatic movement mechanics that felt fluid and responsive in a way few third-person action games had managed. Tomb Raider was a critical and commercial phenomenon. It sold over seven million copies, turned Eidos Interactive's 1996 pretax loss of $2.6 million into a $14.5 million profit, and made Lara Croft one of the most recognizable characters in gaming.

But Toby Gard left Core Design in 1997, citing a loss of creative freedom. With Tomb Raider already an established hit, the studio was under pressure from Eidos to produce sequels on an annual release cycle. Core Design delivered: Tomb Raider II (1997), Tomb Raider III (1998), Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999), Tomb Raider Chronicles (2000). Each sold well, but the formula was showing strain. Development timelines were tight, and the team was being asked to iterate on the same mechanics without the time to fundamentally rethink them. The sixth entry, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, was intended as a reinvention — a darker, more narrative-driven game with RPG elements, built for the PlayStation 2. Development began in 1999 and was fraught with difficulties. The game was delayed twice, and numerous planned features were scaled back to meet deadlines. Core Design staff later stated that Eidos had forced them to release the game before it was ready.

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness was released on 20 June 2003. Despite selling 2.5 million copies worldwide, the game received broadly negative reviews. Critics faulted its poor controls, unstable camera, and pervasive technical issues. It was a commercial disappointment by the standards Eidos had come to expect from the franchise. In response, Eidos removed Tomb Raider from Core Design's hands and transferred development to Crystal Dynamics, another Eidos-owned studio in California. The decision was publicly announced in December 2003. For Core Design, it was the end of the franchise that had defined the studio's identity and commercial viability.

Jeremy Heath-Smith and his brother Adrian, who had been part of Core Design's management, left the company shortly after the franchise transfer and founded Circle Studio. Core Design continued to operate under Eidos, working on other projects, but the studio's purpose had evaporated. In May 2006, Eidos announced that Rebellion Developments, an independent British developer, had acquired Core Design's assets and staff. The Core brand and intellectual property, including Tomb Raider, remained with Eidos. Under Rebellion, the Derby team became Rebellion Derby and worked on titles such as Rogue Warrior (2009) and Shellshock 2: Blood Trails (2009). In March 2010, Rebellion Derby was shut down. There was no ceremony, no retrospective, no formal acknowledgment of what the studio had once been. Core Design, the company that had created one of the most iconic characters in the history of interactive entertainment, disappeared as quietly as it had begun.