Tomb Raider reboot delayed until Q1 2013

The hotly-anticipated Tomb Raider reboot has been pushed back, with the new game now expected to arrive early in 2013 rather than Fall this year as previously promised. "Our priority now is to make sure we fully deliver the very highest quality game" head of studio Darrell Gallagher at Crystal Dynamics said in a statement revealing the delay today. "In order to do this, we have decided to move the game's release date by a few months, from Fall 2012 to the first quarter of 2013."

The postponement will allow Crystal Dynamics more time to polish what Gallagher claims is "the best game of our careers" as well as "polish it to a level that you deserve." However, Tomb Raider will still be previewed at E3 2012 in a few weeks time, and Crystal Dynamics has released the above new screenshot as another tidbit to tide gamers over.

Tomb Raider reboot trailer:

Excitement about the new Tomb Raider has been building since mid-2011, when the studio announced it was working on the reboot of the franchise. The storyline takes a younger iteration of Lara Croft to Japan, and is described as being more raw and gritty than other recent games.

"When Crystal Dynamics first set out to reboot the Tomb Raider franchise, there were two goals that we were extremely passionate about. The first was to create a modern Tomb Raider game that would surprise and excite gamers. The second was to make this the best game of our careers, something we would be really proud to be a part of. We truly believe that we have something very special on our hands and we can't wait to share it with you.

Our priority now is to make sure we fully deliver the very highest quality game. In order to do this, we have decided to move the game's release date by a few months, from Fall 2012 to the first quarter of 2013.

We're doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve. We believe this is the right choice and I guarantee it will be worth the wait. The game is looking amazing and we can't wait to show it to everyone at E3 in a few weeks" Darrell Gallagher, Head of Studio, Crystal Dynamics

It's not the only high-profile delay the gaming world has seen in recent weeks. BioShock Infinite developers Irrational Games confirmed last week that the similarly anticipated title was now not expected to launch until 2013, despite having previously been promised for October this year. The studio, like Crystal Dynamics, cited final polishing as the main reason for the timescale change.