Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft claims two new Guinness World Records

Key points

1. Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider game series claimed two new Guinness World Records on Nov. 26, 2025.
2. The Tomb Raider series has sold over 100 million copies since 1996.
3. Lara Croft has appeared on the covers of 2,300 magazines.

Female fictional British archaeologist Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider game series became the best-selling video game heroine and has appeared on the most magazine covers for a video game character, according to a post from Guinness World Records on Nov. 26, 2025.

To make Lara Croft the best-selling female character in video game history, the Tomb Raider series has sold over 100 million copies since 1996.

As for becoming the record holder among game characters for the number of appearances on magazine covers, Lara Croft has appeared on the covers of 2,300 magazines.

The main series games of the Tomb Raider franchise include 11 entries, along with a pack of 19 spin-offs and mobile installments.

The very first Tomb Raider game was released on Oct. 24, 1996, for the Sega Saturn home video game console and then was ported to MS-DOS, PlayStation, N-Gage, Pocket PC, iOS, and Android. The initial concept was created by Toby Gard, who is credited as Lara’s creator and worked as lead artist on the project. The character of Lara was based on several influences, including Tank Girl, Indiana Jones, and Hard Boiled.