Everwild from Rare Reportedly Canceled Amidst Microsoft’s Latest Xbox Layoffs

Microsoft’s new round of mass layoffs within its Xbox division, beginning this Wednesday, includes Rare and its most recent project, Everwild, which has reportedly been canceled, according to sources at VGC. These sources indicate that Rare is facing a broader restructuring, leading to numerous layoffs and the cancellation of Everwild, a troubled project that has been in development for over a decade. First unveiled in November 2019, Everwild was initially headed by creative director Simon Woodroffe but was rebooted in 2021 following his departure. The game had undergone a change in direction and a recent reset before subsequently disappearing from public view. Despite continued development and the support of Xbox head Phil Spencer until early this year, Everwild’s cancellation is now tied to wider layoffs at Microsoft and the company’s plan to cut 9,000 jobs. In February, Spencer stated in an interview that he was allowing Rare the necessary time to develop the game, which he considered an important original title for the Xbox portfolio. Founded in 1985 in England, Rare gained prominence with games like Battletoads, Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007, and Banjo-Kazooie, serving as one of Nintendo’s main second-party developers during the Nintendo 64 era. The studio was acquired by Microsoft in 2002 and has since developed titles such as Kameo, Viva Piñata, Kinect Sports, and Sea of Thieves under the Xbox brand.