You know I cant believe it took me this long to do this, but I was recommended a documentary on the development of the Tomb Raider franchise, and wow. Eidos absolutely tortured these people after they basically single-handedly saved the publisher from bankruptcy.
- Made Core crunch brutally to put out TR1 by Christmas of 1996 after the game rightfully built massive hype from its E3 showing
- Focused on so much crass tits-and-ass marketing for TR1 that the two original co-creators of the character/franchise quit Core in disgust after they objected to Eidos and then were told to sit down and shut up and make games and leave marketing to the publisher
- Members of Core were legitimately ashamed to bring up in public that they'd helped make one of the most innovative 3D exploration games of all time because average people thought it was "a porn game made for children"
- Made Core crunch again even harder to get TR2 out by Christmas of 1997 only a year later, forcing them to totally do away with the lonely tomb exploration vibe of the first game and go for linear cramped maps in modern man-made spaces so Lara could drive vehicles and shoot a hundred guys with guns, even though combat is literally the weakest part of the formula and Lara's creator specifically didn't want her killing people carelessly
- Told Core they'd have more than a year to put out TR3 if they first worked on a small TR2 expansion (referred to as "Tomb Raider 2.5"), saw the incredible progress they'd made on upgrading the TR2 engine, then boosted the marketing of 2.5 to FULL SEQUEL TOMB RAIDER 3 without even telling them. They found out days later from reading a press release. At the very least, Eidos promised them more creative freedom going forward so the series could be about exploring ancient structures again. It was still forced to release around Christmas of 1998
- Made them work simultaneously on TR3 and TR4 so TR4 could be out a year later, in 1999. The team was so burnt out on Lara Croft that they wrote the game ending in Lara's canonical death in secret so that Eidos would look stupid if they made more TR games
- Made them make TR5 anyway telling the team to write themselves out of the narrative hole they'd dug. Core basically made TR5 in spite. They hate-developed this tired, rehash of a TR game while another team was working on the disaster that would end up as Angel of Darkness on the PS2
- TR5 and TR6 being two flops in a row made them sell Core, which was shut down unceremoniously shortly after
Knowing all this has really clarified in my mind why I TR2 has always been my least favorite one. I almost can't believe it's such a good game in spite of that. Through all this hardship they still managed to put out four of my most cherished childhood games.
Publishers really ain't shit. A poison to the health of the industry and people who actually make the games we play, then, now, and forever.