Original Tomb Raider I-III soundtrack albums legally unable to proceed as the Tomb Raider Suite project comes to an end

The Tomb Raider Suite newsletter distributed by legacy franchise composer Nathan McCree (Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II & Tomb Raider III) has today detailed a legal block on intended original soundtrack publications. This follows a 7-year license agreement made between McCree and current franchise developer Crystal Dynamics which resulted in the The Tomb Raider Suite Project and its voluminous output of live concert(s), album publications and other media & merchandise.

Outstanding - unfortunately - for the first three entries in the franchise, as promised beyond the Kickstarter fundraiser's original offerings, remastered, and set to include previously unreleased cut-scene & FMV score, no original soundtrack albums have been published to date. McCree sheds light on the completed albums that the composer has repititiously teased previously, citing "legal reasons" as inhibiting:

"We [...] completed the fully remastered original soundtracks for Tomb Raider 1, 2 and 3 - another one of our stretch goals from the Kickstarter campaign - which included all the music from the Cutscenes and Full Motion Video sequences. Unfortunately [...] for legal reasons we were unable to release them.

Now that our 7-year License Agreement with Crystal Dynamics has ended, at this stage we’re not sure if we will get a chance to release [...] the remastered soundtracks, but if we can find a way to do it, we will." - Nathan McCree

The Tomb Raider Remastered TV documentary that was also detailed in the Tomb Raider Suite Kickstarter fundraiser was also completed but is also not able to published for the same reasons. The Tomb Raider Suite project at one stage suffered financial delays and unethical allegations, but backers were eventually delivered all other promised goods. Now that the license with the current franchise developer has come to and end, the ownership of the music returns to Crystal Dynamics. Tomb Raider IV-VI composer Peter Connelly made a similar license agreement in 2018, which resulted in the Tomb Raider: Dark Angel Symphony Project and, conversely, did include remastered original soundtrack albums.

Aside, the music for Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (2024) recently saw publication in another capacity as a poorly-curated "Official Soundtrack" & "Greatest Hits". The composer and the developer(s) did not collaborate on this title nor its enclosed release(s). This is catalogued in MoTR's Commercial Discography, and to boot, a new and more comprehensive compilation exists in our Community Discography.