Microsoft’s surge of layoffs hit Xbox hard, leading to mass departures and some games being canceled, with one of those being affected Rare’s Everwild.
Everwild was a new IP in development at Rare, the team behind Sea of Thieves and Banjo-Kazooie, and was set to launch on Xbox Series X|S and PC in the future, including as a day one Game Pass addition. However, it was canceled on July 2.
To get you up to speed on the game, we’ve detailed what we know about the game’s cancelation and what was planned for the title before the plug was pulled.
Why Was Everwild Canceled?
Specific details on why Everwild was chosen to be canceled have not emerged yet, though Xbox CEO Phil Spencer highlighted the decisions being made in an internal memo, obtained by Insider Gaming. In the memo, he said reasons for the changes were to “focus on strategic growth areas.”
The Everwild front has been quiet for a while, with the last mention coming in Spencer’s interview with XboxEra, where he said it was “nice to see the team with Everwild and the progress that they’re making. Even then, it was largely a passing comment without too many details, so it was clear the game was a while off.
No appearance during the Xbox Games Showcase at Summer Games Fest raised eyebrows, and the only footage players ever saw of the game was from the announcement trailer way back in 2019 and another video the following year. Clearly, things weren’t moving along as Xbox hoped.
What Was Everwild About?
Details on Everwild’s story are largely unknown, but the video released in September 2020 featured a commentary track from the devs that revealed a few details, like player characters being known as Eternals, and a relationship with the weird and wonderful creatures having a “symbiotic” relationship.
This suggested themes close to nature, with a more peaceful narrative than one filled with combat, but that was five years ago, so things could have changed significantly since. Given the amount of time that passed and the lack of updates, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what Everwild entailed.
It did, however, have an eye-catching art style, with some similarities to Sea of Thieves, and was an adventure game. It was in development for far longer than the initial announcement too, so it’s likely some details will start to leak out in the aftermath of the cancelation.
Are you disappointed by the cancelation of Everwild? Was the wrong decision made? Let us know your thoughts in the Insider Gaming forum.
For more details on the Xbox layoffs, check out details on Bethesda’s canceled funding for unannounced projects, and Microsoft’s denial that Phil Spencer plans to step down as Xbox CEO.
Game was announced with no gameplay in mind then scrapped 2-3 years later and restarted. Rare can’t make games and should be shut down.