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[Dr. Samuel Hayden]

Sources: Everwild has been cancelled as Xbox layoffs hit Rare | VGC

The original IP had been in development in some form for over a decade…

www.videogameschronicle.com

According to people with knowledge of the project, team members were informed of the news, which comes amid significant layoffs across Microsoft and Xbox, which were formally announced on Wendesday.

Employees are likely to lose their jobs as part of broader restructuring of Seas of Thieves develoepr Rare, the sources said.

 

[LordCBH]

This doesn't surprise me….but it does sadden me. Would have liked to see where this game was going.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Game had been restarted so many times, it was bound to happen

 

[mayham2199]

Not surprising.

 

[Branded]

 

[Hookshot]

Not even taking the piss here, this was something I was mildly interested in. But it was mainly because of the strange deer.

 

[gothmog]

Mercy killing

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Can't say im surprised to be honest, yet another complete waste of time under this leadership

 

[SHAKEZ]

I guess Rare is suffering some layoffs soon.

 

[GHG]

Everwild is expected to be brand new, something that will be played by millions over many years. This will take time.

 

[sloppyjoe_gamer]

If Nintendo got Rare back, a new Banjo game would do quite well on Switch 2

 

[Topher]

"It has been [a while]. And we've been able to give those teams time in what they're doing which is good and still have a portfolio like we have. It's like a dream that Matt (Booty) and I have had for a long time, so it's finally good to be there. We can give those teams time"

Phil Spencer provides rare update on missing-in-action Xbox exclusive Everwild | VGC

Microsoft’s gaming boss says Rare is making progress, 3 years after its last reveal…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[Spyxos]

Unfortunately, this was to be expected.

 

[Kenneth Haight]

Is this the start of the cull

 

[LazyParrot]

Did we ever find out what kind of game this actually was?

 

[Connificent]

Thank God for Banjo Kong this month

 

[Punished Miku]

Definitely a huge bummer. Hard to argue with the decision, but it's a disappointment.

 

[TintoConCasera]

Isn't this the game that when it was announced not even the devs knew what it was about?

MS is damn weird man, they have all those IPs sitting there but they go and spend years and millions on something weird like this. Come on Phil, just give us Hecatomb, a new Soldier of Fortune or a new Jet Force Gemini and you'll make a lot of people happy.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Did we ever find out what kind of game this actually was?

The game had been restarted so many times even those at Rare didn't know what kind of game it was

 

[Sebastian1295]

Microsoft buying rare is one of the biggest gaming disasters in history. Took one of the most iconic devs of all time and completely ruined them. They went from banjo kazooie, perfect dark, conkers bad fur day, etc to kinect shit and they never recovered.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Least surprising cancellation ever.

 

[Hari Seldon]

This is definitely something that should have been culled like 5 years ago.

 

[analog_future]

Neverwild

 

[FIREKNIGHT2029]

Probably the first of several cancellations and layoffs we will be hearing of today. I'm not surprised at all.

 

[Holammer]

1-2 trailers? We don't know much about it, no big loss.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Welp...

 

[TVexperto]

no fucking way, but not surprising looking at the current state of sea of thieves

 

[roosnam1980]

 

[Connificent]

Isn't this the game that when it was announced not even the devs knew what it was about?

MS is damn weird man, they have all those IPs sitting there but they go and spend years and millions on something weird like this. Come on Phil, just give us Hecatomb, a new Soldier of Fortune or a new Jet Force Gemini and you'll make a lot of people happy.

Those are some titles lol. We cant even get a new Quake.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Cmon dude.

Am sure your post history is full of gems.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

This doesn't surprise me….but it does sadden me. Would have liked to see where this game was going.

That's the thing, not even the game devs knew where they were going. As far as we know they only came up with the title but with nothing else to work with.

 

[GriffinCorp]

Sounds about right, wasn't this game announced like 5 years ago? I wonder how many millions were wasted to have nothing to show for. This is not surprising at all.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Good move. You could tell this game was never a game.

 

[Seiryu21]

I'm a little sad. I can no longer ask "where's everwild" whenever Xbox is praised for releasing games.

 

[damidu]

fable next?

 

[GHG]

Cmon dude.

Am sure your post history is full of gems.

Your first mistake is thinking everyone else is as delusional as you.

 

[hououinkyouma00]

Not surprised in the slightest

Rare is overrated as hell anyways.

 

[Zacfoldor]

 

[Kacho]

Game would have been girly woke garbage. Good riddance.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Not surprised in the slightest

Rare is overrated as hell anyways.

Are they? I don't see Rare fanboys around anymore like the N64 days.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Not surprised. Sounds like a development disaster. Game was announced so long ago I had to google when the trailer came out and it was November 2019! Series X was still a full year away from launch!

Everwild (video game) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Development

Development began on Everwild around 2014, and it spent many years in experimental prototyping before being announced.[2] Rare announced a new third-person action-adventure AAA game during the Xbox X019 presentation in November 2019.[5] Gary Napper, who was previously the lead designer for Alien: Isolation, joined Rare as the design director for Everwild.[6]

Video game journalist Jeff Grubb stated in a stream on 12 June 2021 that Everwild had been rebooted since its initial development and was "a ways off", scheduled for approximately 2023.[7] A Video Games Chronicles report on 14 June, corroborated that Everwild underwent a "complete reboot" after departure of creative director Simon Woodroffe, but stated that its planned release date had been pushed back to 2024 saying "Everwild's development team is now 'optimistically' targeting a 2024 release."[2]

In October 2024, Everwild development was reported to be going well, with parts of the game being in a playable form.[8]

In July 2025, Everwild development was ended as a result of broader layoffs within Microsoft.

 

[justiceiro]

I wonder how many of the Microsoft projects we have announced that will ever see the light of the day.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Wikipedia says Battletoads 2020 was the last game they made?
Sea of Thievs was released in 2018. 7 years ago?
Collecting a paycheck for 5 years. Come into work. Sit at a computer, Get paid.

 

[Horseganador]

It was clear that some game had to be canceled after so many layoffs, we'll see what happens with what little remains of Rare.

 

[Roberts]

Microsoft buying rare is one of the biggest gaming disasters in history. Took one of the most iconic devs of all time and completely ruined them. They went from banjo kazooie, perfect dark, conkers bad fur day, etc to kinect shit and they never recovered.

Sea of Thieves is a masterpiece and I will continue to say that every time somebody says Rare has gone to shit.

Bummer about Everwild, though.

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

Damn. I was just about to tell the devs what the game is too.

 

[Skifi28]

I'm a little sad. I can no longer ask "where's everwild" whenever Xbox is praised for releasing games.

It's ok, you can always ask about Fable, State of Decay, Perfect Dark etc.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

 

[Kikorin]

Let's remeber that between 1997/2001 Rare developed on N64 Blast Corps, GoldenEye 007, Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo-Kazooie, Jet Force Gemini, Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark, Mickey's Speedway USA, Banjo-Tooie and Conker's Bad Fur Day.