Xbox developer Rare, which today is best known for Sea of Thieves, has commented on the recent mass layoffs at Microsoft that led to the cancellation of the studio’s long-in-development project Everwild.
As part of the Sea of Thieves developer update video for July, Rare production director Drew Stevens started off by addressing the layoffs. “It would be strange to jump straight into our usual updates without acknowledging the news that we’ve ended development on Everwild here at Rare,” Stevens said (via GamesRadar).
The game was formally revealed all the way back in November 2019, but beyond a trailer for it in 2020, updates on it have been almost non-existent. Sources said Rare was unable to find the right direction for Everwild, and now it’s no longer in development.
The cancellation of Everwild didn’t “directly impact” Sea of Thieves, Stevens added, mentioning that development is continuing as planned. “Our focus as a team and a studio is on supporting our friends and colleagues whose roles are at risk,” Stevens said.
The developer went on to say that it’s “impossible for something like this not to ripple through the studio and affect all of us in some way or another, so please bear with us.”
“I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who’s reached out to check in on us and share their kind words of support. Genuinely, thank you, it really means a lot,” Stevens said.
It wasn’t just Everwild that got canned as part of the Xbox cutbacks, as Microsoft also canceled a new MMO from The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios, as well as the new Perfect Dark. Microsoft also laid off numerous developers across its network of studios.
The cuts came as part of a wider downsizing effort at Microsoft that affected more than 9,000 people and against the backdrop of Microsoft investing billions into artificial intelligence projects. Some of the laid-off developers at the Microsoft-owned Candy Crush studio King say they are set to be replaced by AI systems they helped create.
