July 2nd 2025, is a sad day due to the number of layoffs announced by Microsoft. With as many as 9,000 employees being made redundant, this is not great news. Whilst this only represents around 4% of the total workforce, it affects numerous individuals, families, and projects that have had considerable hard work invested in them. One of those projects is Everwild from Rare Studios, which is now cancelled due to this announcement today. This is a major gaming casualty from a very successful studio, and my thoughts go out to everyone involved.
A Lengthy Journey With An Abrupt End
Announced at the X019 showcase, Everwild sounded promising and was spoken about as a visually striking third-person adventure with “god game” vibes—no combat, magical fauna, immersive fantasy landscapes. In 2021, the creative director left the project, and the game had a reboot, with the game shifting to a Viva Piñata vibe of gameplay. The roadmap looked promising as Phil Spencer visited the studio earlier this year, stating that the team had made progress and had been given time to get things right. Sadly, some months later and this time has come to a complete halt, and we won’t see this journey come to fruition.
What’s Next For Rare?
There doesn’t seem to be any indications on the number of employees from Rare who have been impacted, and no current word on whether the team will be reallocated to work on other projects. Unfortunately, we as gamers are only going to be left with the very limited snippets of the game which we were shown in nearly a decade of work. It reminds me of the situation when Scalebound was canned several years ago. I wish nothing but the best for the remainder of the team, and here at Complete Xbox, we feel for those who may have lost their job with such a talented studio.