Days Gone director is moving to Crystal Dynamics

(Image credit: PlayStation)

Jeff Ross, a director on the middling open-world zombie shooter Days Gone, has announced that he is joining Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics.

"I'm excited to announce I now work at the amazing Crystal Dynamics as Design Director," Ross wrote on Twitter, adding. " That's all I can say other than I'm thrilled with the project, and especially the team of really wonderful people."

Ross didn't specify what project he was working on. There's a reasonable chance that it's Crystal Dynamics newly announced Tomb Raider, given that was announced only yesterday. But he could have also been brought on to assist with development of Microsoft's Perfect Dark reboot, which Crystal Dynamic was surprisingly announced as co-developer of late last year, and which also recently lost a director from the project.

It isn't a straight switch. Ross left Sony Bend back in 2020, after Sony decided not to greenlight a sequel to Days Gone. It's a decision that clearly rankled Sony Bend's upper management, with Ross stating earlier this year that Sony management made Days Gone feel like a "big disappointment."

Admittedly, we were somewhat disappointed with Days Gone ourselves, as you can see from our review of the game when Sony brought it to PC. Nonetheless, it'll be interesting to see what exactly Ross ends up working on at Crystal Dynamics, and whether he can help inject new life into Tomb Raider, Perfect Dark, or another, unannounced Crystal Dynamics project.

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Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.