As expected,Xbox has been hit with widespread layoffs today, with some outlets claiming as many as 9,000 employees across multiple departments and studios have been affected. Those studios include Rare, with new information suggesting its long-in-development project,Everwild, has now been canceled.
That’s according to a new report fromVGCas dust from the layoff news continues to settle. The report claims that those close to the project revealed people working on Everwild at Rare were informed that development on the game will no longer be moving forward. Everwild was announced in 2019 and has been in development at theXbox-owned studio for over a decade. Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier has also reported that Everwild has been canceled due to today’s layoffs.
Everwild Has Reportedly Been Canceled
Even though updates on Everwild’s development have been scarce -we haven’t been shown anything official since 2020- Xbox boss Phil Spencer continued to assure those who asked that all was well with the project. As recently as this year, Spencer noted that progress was still being made on the game despite it no-showing multiple Xbox showcases.
In 2021, there were multiple reports claimingdevelopment on Everwild had been started from scratch. However, while not denying it outright, Xbox’s Matt Booty claimedreports that its development had been completely rebooted were “a little extreme”. Apparently, walking back what Rare had come up with until that point was due to the Everwild team being unable to settle on a clear direction for the game. Booty also noted in 2021 that Xbox and Rare didn’t want to show people anything more until they had something special to showcase.
Unfortunately for Everwild, after half a decade of radio silence regarding how things were going, its name was barely even mentioned when discussing what might show up during last month’s Xbox summer showcase. A few mentions here and there, but with so many Xbox games already released this year, and Spencer noting the unannounced projects he’s excited about coming in 2026, even before today’s reports, it seemed likely that Everwild might be in a lot of trouble.
