Tomb Raider Series Coming to Prime Video as Part of Crystal Dynamics/Amazon Deal

Prime Video announced today that it has ordered a Tomb Raider series, which will premiere worldwide exclusively on the streaming service. This series is part of a deal between Crystal Dynamics (Tomb Raider’s IP-holder) and Amazon, as the two companies are also collaborating on an upcoming singleplayer, multiplatform Tomb Raider title.

With great IP, the possibilities are endless. The richness and depth of the fiction allows the Tomb Raider series from Prime Video and the video game from Amazon Games to tell separate stories about Lara Croft’s adventures. We’re honored that Crystal Dynamics has entrusted Amazon with this iconic franchise, and we’re looking forward to seeing where this collaboration takes us.

Christoph Hartmann, VP of Amazon Games

Relatedly, PC gamers who are also Amazon Prime members can grab Tomb of the Raider: Game of the Year Edition on GoG through May (head to the Free games tab of gaming.amazon.com to do so).

As far as the series goes, you might say the bar is pretty low here — Tomb Raider has been adapted thrice, all three times as a movie, and all three times with middling to poor reviews. At the same time, the Fallout show was very well received, and so one could argue that expectations will be high for another game adaptation from Amazon.

Given how long-form most video game stories are, a series does feel like the proper medium for a good adaptation. It felt like a missed opportunity that the Fallout series didn’t make use of its multiple episodes to lean more into the side-quests trope; perhaps we’ll see the Tomb Raider show take advantage of the series format to have Lara visit lots of locations and raid lots of different tombs.

In any case, it’s clear that the success of the Fallout series on Amazon is great news for video game fans who also watch TV. It means we’re very likely to see more adaptations, as TV execs favorite thing is to attempt to imitate successes — and Bethesda’s RPG ended up making for a very successful show indeed.

Personally, this author is still waiting for the Starcraft series. Let us know what game you’d like to see adapted in the comments!