Former Naughty Dog art director working for Tomb Raider's development studio

Lara Croft of Tomb Raider

Nate Wells, Naughty Dog’s former art director behind The Last of Us, is now a part of Rise of the Tomb Raider development studio Crystal Dynamics. The news was confirmed by Crystal Dynamics and Nate Well on their official Twitter pages.

Wells had worked for Irrational Games studio for the past 13 years before leaving to join Naughty Dog where he worked as an art director on the critically acclaimed The Last of Us. He quit sometime in April of 2014 and has now joined Crystal Dynamics as the studio’s new Art Director.

It is unclear on which projects Wells has been placed on, but given that the studio’s latest project is Rise of the Tomb Raider, it is quite possible that he will be working on the upcoming game although nothing has been confirmed by the studio so far.

Crystal Dynamics are also currently working on a new IP so Wells could be involved in this as well. The studio could really use Well’s help considering how well The Last of Us has done, both commercially and critically.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is slated to release sometime in late 2015 for the Xbox One, after which it will be released for the PC and PS4 sometime in early 2016. The PC and PS4 release will be after the timed exclusive deals expire.

Although this may seem a bit unfair to PS and PC users, it’s probably because Microsoft wants to compete with Sony’s much anticipated Unchartered 4: A Thief’s End which will be out around the same time.

We’re thrilled to welcome Nate Wells @PrettyLarceny to the CrystalD family as our newest Art Director/Tree Aficionado!

— CrystalD (@CrystalDynamics) December 1, 2014

Wow, you can actually smell trees up here. #crystaldynamics #firstday

— Nate Wells (@PrettyLarceny) December 1, 2014