40 years ago, the world-famous British video game developer Rare was founded on August 4, 1985. Originating from the 1982 British developer and Publisher, Ultimate Play the Game, Rare went on to create some of the most beloved games ever made through its partnerships with Nintendo and Xbox, such as Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Viva Piñata, and Sea of Thieves.
To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Rare collaborated with 8BitDo to produce a limited-edition 2.4G wireless Xbox controller featuring patterns and silhouettes from some of Rare’s most iconic games. That said, the announcement of this controller couldn’t have come at a worse time due to recent developments between Xbox and Rare.
Since 2023, Microsoft and Xbox have been continuously laying off thousands of employees despite both companies repeatedly reporting stable financial conditions, albeit Xbox hardware sales being the lowest compared to Nintendo and PlayStation hardware sales. Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees in 2023, 2,550 employees in 2024, roughly 6,000 employees in May 2025, 300 employees in June 2025, and 9,000 employees in July 2025.
These layoffs affected several branches of Microsoft’s global workforce, but the layoffs significantly impacted Xbox and dozens of game developer organizations working for the nearly 25-year-old gaming division. According to CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer, these cuts were to “end or decrease work in certain areas of the business and follow Microsoft’s lead in removing layers of management to increase agility and effectiveness.”
These cuts were made despite, according to Spencer himself, Xbox having “more players, games, and gaming hours than ever before.” As a result of these layoffs, many developers had their staff significantly reduced, such as 70 people being laid off from Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10 Studios and Candy Crush Saga developer King losing 10% of its staff.
These cuts even resulted in several game cancellations that have been in development for several years, including Zenimax Online Studios’ MMORPG codenamed Blackbird, The Initiative’s first-person shooter Perfect Dark reboot, and Rare’s brand-new action-adventure game Everwild. The cancellation of the Perfect Dark reboot game even led to the closing of The Initiative, a first-party developer established by Xbox Game Studios in 2018 to specifically work on the Perfect Dark reboot.
Rare hasn’t released a new game since 2020’s reboot of the classic beat ’em up series Battletoads, with the developer instead prioritizing updates for the 2018 pirate-themed, multiplayer, action-adventure game Sea of Thieves. However, during the 2019 X019 presentation, Rare officially announced its next brand-new project called Everwild, which was described as allowing players to access “new ways to play in a natural and magical world.”
Development on Everwild originally began in 2014, but the game was internally rebooted in 2021 following the departure of creative director Simon Woodroffe and was reportedly originally slated for a 2024 release. Despite two cinematic trailers being released for Everwild, little is known about Everwild’s gameplay, with some describing it as a third-person Viva Piñata-like game.
Rare originally created the Perfect Dark series with 2000’s Perfect Dark for the N64 and its 2005 prequel, Perfect Dark Zero, for the Xbox 360.
While Everwild may have had shaky development, progress on the game was reportedly going well in 2024. In October 2024, Spencer went to Rare’s Twycross, England HQ to visit the developer and play a version of Everwild. Around the same time, Windows Central’s Jez Corden reported that development on Everwild was progressing well and that Rare had “nailed the gameplay loop.”
According to Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, the cancellation of Everwild and Perfect Dark was to “reflect a broader effort to adjust priorities and focus resources to set up our teams for greater success within a changing industry landscape.” It’s currently unknown if Rare is working on any other games besides Sea of Thieves or how many employees at Rare were laid off.
On top of Rare having Everwild canceled and losing an unknown number of staff, it additionally lost one of its most celebrated and longest-serving developers, Gregg Mayles. Mayles joined Rare in 1989, back when he was only 18, and went on to be a leading designer for the original Battletoads, Donkey Kong Country, Banjo-Kazooie, Viva Piñata, and Sea of Thieves. Mayles became Rare’s creative director in 2007 and has served as Everwild’s director since 2021.
Ultimately, these events culminate in making Rare’s 40th anniversary and Xbox controller announcement bittersweet, with the future of Rare left unknown following Mayles’ departure and Everwild’s cancellation. Not all of Rare’s 2025 news is bittersweet, however, as a plaque was recently placed at Ashby-de-la-Zouch to celebrate and immortalize the birthplace and creations of Rare.
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