Tag: Rare

  • Gregg Mayles Departs Rare After 36 Years, Announces on X

    Gregg Mayles Departs Rare After 36 Years, Announces on X

    Key Takeaways

    1. Gregg Mayles has left Rare after 36 years, reflecting on his journey through a poetic farewell titled “A Rather Resplendent Rewarding Rare Ramble.”

    2. Mayles contributed to 30 games, including iconic titles like Banjo-Kazooie, Battletoads, and Sea of Thieves, playing a significant role in Rare’s success during the Nintendo 64 era.

    3. His departure comes at a challenging time for Rare, especially following Microsoft’s acquisition in 2002 and the recent cancellation of the ambitious project Everwild.

    4. Sea of Thieves, directed by Mayles, remains Rare’s biggest success, with over 40 million players, despite the studio facing difficulties with other titles and projects.

    5. Reports suggest that the troubled development and cancellation of Everwild may have influenced Mayles’ decision to leave, although he did not comment on this in his farewell message.

    Gregg Mayles, the creative mind behind Banjo-Kazooie, has said goodbye to Rare after an impressive 36 years with the renowned British game studio.

    Having joined Rare in 1989 right after finishing high school, Mayles shared his departure on X in an artistic manner, calling it “A Rather Resplendent Rewarding Rare Ramble.” This title cleverly nods to the playful rhymes that made Banjo-Kazooie memorable.

    Reflecting on His Journey

    The poem reflects on his experiences, starting from ignoring a banking career to dive into game design. He highlights his work on popular titles like Battletoads, Donkey Kong Country, Diddy Kong Racing, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Viva Piñata, and Sea of Thieves, while also expressing his appreciation for fans and coworkers.

    He concluded his message with a heartfelt farewell: “Now time to start new tales to tell, Farewell to Rare, he waves, farewell!”

    A Legacy at Rare

    Throughout his career, Mayles contributed to 30 games, playing a key role in Rare’s prime era during the Nintendo 64 days. He was part of classics like the 1998 platformer Banjo-Kazooie, which sold over 3.6 million copies globally and led to sequels such as Banjo-Tooie in 2000.

    Additionally, he worked on many cherished games, including the 1994 beat ’em up Battletoads, the Donkey Kong franchise starting with Donkey Kong Country in 1994, the 2003 Xbox horror-comedy Grabbed by the Ghoulies, the life simulation game Viva Piñata in 2006, and most recently, he directed the popular multiplayer pirate adventure, Sea of Thieves, which came out in 2018 and has gathered more than 40 million players across all platforms.

    Challenges for Rare

    This news arrives during a challenging time for Rare, especially after Microsoft’s acquisition of the studio in 2002 for $375 million, which led to a shift from Nintendo to Xbox. While Sea of Thieves is Rare’s biggest success, the studio has encountered various difficulties over the years, including the 2013 release of Kinect Sports.

    Notably, the ambitious open-world adventure Everwild was under Mayles’ supervision. Announced in 2019, it had been in the works for more than five years.

    Unfortunately, Microsoft canceled Everwild in July 2025 amid significant layoffs that impacted around 9,000 employees across the company. This also included budget cuts at Rare and the cancellation of The Initiative’s Perfect Dark reboot, which was linked to Rare’s heritage.

    Reports indicate that the cancellation of Everwild, after nearly ten years of troubled development and various overhauls, may have played a role in Mayles’ choice to depart from Rare. However, he didn’t elaborate on this in his post on X.

    Source:
    Link

     

    Tags:
  • Sea of Thieves Adds Custom Servers Following Community Feedback

    Sea of Thieves Adds Custom Servers Following Community Feedback

    Key Takeaways

    1. Custom Servers Launching: Rare will introduce custom servers in early 2025 as part of a new premium subscription model, fulfilling a long-standing community request.

    2. Unique Gameplay Experiences: Players can customize their servers by adjusting loot, enemy spawn rates, and other gameplay elements, creating a personalized gaming environment.

    3. Safer Seas Fleets: The new custom servers will allow friends to occupy an entire server together while maintaining progression, improving cooperative play.

    4. Focus on Game Improvement: Rare is prioritizing game security, performance, and player safety in 2025 to enhance the overall player experience.

    5. Seasonal Content Revamp: The current seasonal content model is being restructured into a more organized three-month season to better align with community expectations.

    Sea of Thieves is gearing up for some big changes as it nears 2026. The developer, Rare, has revealed plans for custom servers that will launch early next year, as part of a new premium subscription model. This announcement was made during Rare’s first-ever Sea of Thieves Community Direct, where they highlighted this feature as something the community has long wanted, and the developers have been working hard on.

    Custom Experience for Players

    With the introduction of custom servers, players will have the opportunity to create their own unique gameplay experiences. Rare refers to this as “their private sandbox,” where players can use various switches, toggles, and commands to shape their server experience. This means players can adjust loot, enemy spawn rates, or even turn off AI entirely. However, Rare has yet to disclose the specific pricing for the premium subscription.

    Enhanced Play with Friends

    In response to community feedback, these custom servers will support Safer Seas Fleets. This feature allows a group of friends to occupy a whole server while keeping the same progression as the solo version of Safer Seas. It simplifies the process for friends wanting to play together without the need to coordinate across multiple servers.

    Additionally, players will be equipped with a cinematic camera toolset that enables content creators to explore camera angles that were not feasible in standard servers.

    Future Plans for Sea of Thieves

    Rare has introduced this much-anticipated feature to help sustain its Sea of Thieves player community. The game reached an impressive milestone of 40 million lifetime players in April 2024. However, it hasn’t been smooth sailing on the PS5, with a 58% drop in its player base since launch.

    Drew Stevens, the Production Director, has been open about these challenges. For 2025, Rare is prioritizing three key areas: game security, performance, and player safety.

    Alongside the custom servers, Rare is also planning to revamp Sea of Thieves’ seasonal content model. They are moving away from the current seasonal format to implement a more thoughtfully structured three-month season.

    With the rollout of custom servers and the reworking of their seasonal content strategy, Rare is making strategic adjustments to meet community expectations and compete in the live-service game market. As Sea of Thieves approaches its 7th anniversary since its launch, these updates could potentially lead to a transformative year for the game.

    Source:
    Link

    Tags: ,
  • Everwild by Rare on Track After Setbacks and Reboot

    Everwild by Rare on Track After Setbacks and Reboot

    Since it was first teased with a brief trailer at XO19 in November 2019, Everwild has drawn the interest of many gamers. Rare, a studio famous for titles such as Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, and Sea of Thieves, has seemingly been working on Everwild since 2014.

    Development Journey

    A decade later, despite a few trailers showcasing stunning visuals and potential gameplay, the actual nature of Everwild remains unclear, and at times, the studio seemed unsure as well. However, it looks like Rare has finally cracked the code, and Everwild is said to be making good progress.

    Positive Updates

    The most recent insights about Everwild come from Jez Corden at Windows Central, who claims that the game’s development is “going well” and that the studio has “nailed the gameplay loop, and we should be seeing that in the future.” This news is significant for fans eager for fresh updates on Rare’s upcoming AAA intellectual property. The previously undefined gameplay loop might have been a major factor in why Everwild was stuck in developmental limbo. The situation was so problematic that the game reportedly underwent a complete reboot in 2021, aiming for a release in 2024.

    Future Expectations

    With 2024 approaching, Xbox has not disclosed any information about Everwild’s release date. Thus, it seems the game is still not in a state to be showcased, and it may take some time before we see the full launch. While it’s known that Everwild is anticipated to be a third-person action-adventure title, specific details about its gameplay remain elusive. Nevertheless, we can infer some elements based on the 2020 trailer.

    The game seems to focus on the player’s relationship with wildlife and flora. For example, the trailer depicts characters rescuing a tree from an insect invasion by using a type of spell. In other scenes, they are seen guiding a large creature to topple a tree. There’s also a moment where a ritual is performed to heal a deer-like animal by calling on a spirit.

    From this, we might speculate that the game could have minimal combat and instead focus on safeguarding nature through rituals and spirit summoning. However, this is purely conjectural, and the final version of Everwild could feature a completely different gameplay approach. No matter how the gameplay evolves, we hope Rare has genuinely “nailed” it as Jez Corden suggests.

    Jez Corden via r/GamingLeaksAndRumors, Polygon, Teaser image: Xbox/Rare, edited.

    Tags: , ,