Rare News Articles
Monday13th Oct 2025
News Everwild Screenshots Leak Online Several Months After Xbox Cancellation
Featuring gameplay & UI elements!
Back in July, as part of broader layoffs at Microsoft, Rare's Everwild was cancelled after more than five years in the making - and now a selection of in-development screenshots have been shared online; giving us an idea of what the Sea Of Thieves developer was looking to build with
Monday4th Aug 2025
News Xbox Adds New Dynamic Background & Gamerpics For Rare's 40th Birthday
Rare's big day
As we just unveiled elsewhere on Pure Xbox, we have some goodies being announced today to celebrate the 40th anniversary of developer Rare - and those goodies also include a batch of fresh gamerpics and a new dynamic background on Xbox Series X|S. <related ids="185925"> Yep, to celebrate 40 years of the famous Xbox studio,...
Thursday10th Jul 2025
News Rare Is Completely Re-Evaluating Its Development Process After Everwild Cancellation
Sea of Thieves Community Direct tells all
Today, Sea Of Thieves developer Rare has hosted its first-ever 'Community Direct' livestream, addressing past game updates and what plans the studio has for the future of the title. While specific new updates weren't really discussed in detail, the team talked about its development process from a high level,...
Wednesday2nd Jul 2025
Report Multiple Industry Veterans To Leave Xbox Studios Amidst Layoffs
Including big departures at Rare and ZeniMax Online Studios
The bad news about today's Xbox layoffs isn't over just yet, as some major names at multiple Xbox studios are said to be leaving their positions - either coincidentally or as a result of what we've been hearing all afternoon. Firstly, Zenimax Online Studios president Matt Frior is...
News Xbox's Everwild Gets Cancelled As Layoffs Hit Sea Of Thieves Developer
Update: It's now official
We told you folks to brace yourselves today and that's exactly what's needed. Following news earlier that fresh Microsoft layoffs were starting to hit Xbox teams, it's being reported that Rare is now one of the studios affected - and its Everwild project has seemingly been cancelled as a result. This is coming from outlet
Wednesday28th May 2025
News Microsoft Has 'Strong Confidence' In Rare's Everwild, Says Xbox Reporter
"The game is now on track"
Ahh, it's almost Xbox Games Showcase time, which means we're going to see lots of rumours and speculation on what Microsoft might be preparing to show as part of its 2025 event. To that end, Windows Central reporter Jez Corden has just put out a massive predictions piece ahead of next month's show - and while lot
Friday21st Mar 2025
News Sea of Thieves Already Has Next 5 Years Planned, Starting With Xbox Exclusive 'X Edition'
Celebrate with the new 7th anniversary version
It wasn't always the easiest for Sea Of Thieves in the earlier stages of its life, but seven years on, the game is officially a huge success and is now even available on the PlayStation 5. The game's creative director Mike Chapman has used the seventh anniversary of the game to talk about its future on...
Wednesday27th Nov 2024
News Rare Boss Now Officially The New Head Of Xbox Game Studios
A new era for Xbox
Last month, it was revealed Rare's boss Craig Duncan would become the new leader of Xbox Game Studios, replacing Forza Motorsport's Alan Hartman. Now, in an update on Rare's socials, it seems Duncan has "recently started" in his new role, with his existing team celebrating his tenure after "13 years and 10 months". "Today we're...
Monday14th Oct 2024
News Rare Boss To Become New Head Of Xbox Game Studios
The team's current leader is retiring
Rare boss Craig Duncan is set to become the new leader over at Xbox Game Studios, with current XGS head Alan Hartman set to retire, per GamesIndustry.biz. Hartman only took on the role in 2023 after leading Forza developer Turn 10 for a number of years. Duncan will go down a similar route, af
Rumour Everwild Development Is 'Going Well' At Xbox Studio Rare
The game was announced half a decade ago
Almost five years ago now, Rare announced Everwild, its next major title after the arrival of Sea Of Thieves. To this day, we've not really been given a detailed look at the game, but a new rumour suggests that development on the title is now progressing well at the British studio. Coming from Windows...
Thursday22nd Aug 2024
News Xbox's Sea Of Thieves Has Reportedly Sold Over One Million Copies On PS5
In Phil's words: "we run a business"
There's been a lot of conversation within the Xbox community following the announcement that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be released on PlayStation 5 next year. Off the back of this, Phil Spencer yesterday said Xbox's franchises were actually "getting stronger". With this in mind, a new story today...
Thursday25th Jul 2024
News Sea Of Thieves Season 13 Has Arrived As Rare Continues To Build On PS5 Success
They're not slowing down!
Thought that Sea Of Thieves going multiplatform would slow down Rare, eh? Not a chance! The team has stuck to its regular update cadence with the arrival of Sea of Thieves Season 13, which is now live on Xbox, PS5 and PC. In this first post-launch season for PS5 players (Season 12 was packed into the PlayStation release),...
Wednesday10th Jul 2024
News Sea Of Thieves Justifies Multiplatform Release By Charting Again On PS5 In June
Fresh plunder
Another month brings even more Sea Of Thieves success for Microsoft! Rare's pirate adventure, which first launched on Xbox all the way back in 2018, has sold very well on PS5 again in June 2024. In both the US and Europe, Sea of Thieves was in the top five most downloaded PS5 games for the month of June. This follows May's standings,...
Friday21st Jun 2024
News Xbox Exec Talks Multiplatform Strategy, Team 'Really Pleased' With Sea Of Thieves On PS5
"We have been really pleased"
In a new interview with Variety, Xbox exec Matt Booty has been discussing lots of Microsoft's recent gaming business, including the team's big summer showcase earlier this month. Naturally, the conversation also moved towards
Wednesday19th Jun 2024
News Another Rare Classic Is Now Available On Nintendo's Switch Online Service
Following the successful release of Sea of Thieves on PS5
Rare, the developer behind modern hits such as Sea Of Thieves, is today celebrating the release of another one of its classics on Nintendo's Switch Online subscription service. In case you missed it, this time it's the first-person shooter Perfect Dark. This kind of times into the first...
Thursday13th Jun 2024
News Sea Of Thieves Was The Best-Selling PS5 Game In Both The US & Europe Last Month
Sea of sales
Rare's Sea Of Thieves was probably the most high-profile Xbox game to make the switch to PlayStation 5 earlier in the year, and Microsoft's multiplatform move seems to have paid off for the Xbox owner already. In a new post over at the PlayStation Blog, Sony has detailed its software sales charts for May 2024, and Rare's pirate...
Friday10th May 2024
News Xbox's Sea Of Thieves Plunders PS5 Charts, Becoming Europe's Best-Selling Game In April
Shiver me timbers
Rare made its PlayStation debut last month with the arrival of Sea Of Thieves on PS5, and it sounds like its pirate adventure is doing quite well on the platform so far. As revealed by Sony in the company's latest PlayStation Blog sales post, Sea of Thieves was the best-selling game in Europe during the month of Apr
Tuesday30th Apr 2024
News Here's What The First PS5 Reviews Are Saying About Sea Of Thieves
Rare's first-ever PlayStation game is out now
Well, the final entry in Xbox's new four-game-foray into PlayStation gaming is officially out now, with Sea Of Thieves releasing on PS5 today. It's been a long while since the game first came out on Xbox though, so what are the reviews saying about Rare's pirate adventure in 2024? We've already heard...
Monday22nd Apr 2024
News Xbox Talks Sustainability Efforts As Rare's New 'Solar-Powered Studio' Is Unveiled
Earth Day 2024 brings new Xbox innovations
As part of Earth Day 2024, Microsoft has broken down a number of new initiatives going on at Xbox right now - including a brand-new "solar-powered studio" at Sea Of Thieves developer Rare. This new studio, also known as 'Barn X', opened last year - and it's since been "certified LEED GOLD for its design...
News Sea Of Thieves On PS5 Has Slight Edge Over Xbox Series X, Notes Digital Foundry
In two key areas
Over the weekend, the folks at Digital Foundry posted some interesting findings about Sea Of Thieves on PlayStation 5, following its recent beta test on the Sony console. We'll put the video version of their analysis up above, but the gist of it is that PS5 has a few advantages despite being very similar to the Series X version...
Wednesday3rd Apr 2024
News Killer Instinct Bonus Update Adds New Stage And '87 New Colorways'
Update: Available now
Update [Wed 3rd Apr, 2024 06:55 BST]: As a reminder, this update for Killer Instinct is now live. You can check out the patch notes in the original story below. Original post [Sat 30th Mar, 2024 06:00 GMT]: Killer Instinct earlier on held a special "bonus update stream" celebrating the recent release of the anniversary...
Thursday21st Mar 2024
News Sea Of Thieves Details Upcoming Seasons - New Weapons, Tools, Owls & More
Season 12, 13 and 14 outlined
Rare this week held its '2024 Preview Event' for Sea Of Thieves - celebrating the game's sixth anniversary and revealing what's coming in Season 12, 13 and 14. If you weren't able to catch it and need a quick recap, you've come to the right place. Keep in mind everything showcased during this latest broadcast is still...
Thursday7th Mar 2024
News Sea Of Thieves Announces 2024 Preview Event, Anti-Cheat Out Next Week
The game's sixth anniversary is on the horizon
As part of Sea Of Thieves' sixth anniversary celebrations, Rare is busy preparing a few things. Firstly, it's announced a '2024 Preview Event' will be taking place on March 20th. This will include a "sneak peek" of the content coming to Seasons 12, 13, and 14. More details will be shared as soon as...
Saturday2nd Mar 2024
News Sea Of Thieves Co-Developer Lays Off 'Handful' Of Employees
"This situation is heartbreaking"
It's been another difficult week for the video game industry in 2024 and now the UK indie developer Radical Forge has announced it's laying off a "handful of people". It's reportedly six employees to be exact. The same team, which worked alongside Flix Interactive and Rare on the free update Sea Of Thieves: A...
Wednesday28th Feb 2024
PSA You'll Need A Microsoft Account To Play Sea Of Thieves On PS5, Unsurprisingly
PlayStation crew members can sign up for free
Xbox wants to expand its ecosystem, and as part of this, it recently announced four first-party titles for other console platforms. One of these is Rare's online multiplayer pirate game Sea Of Thieves, which sails onto the PlayStation 5 on April 30th, 2024. For anyone who wants to play on this...
Thursday22nd Feb 2024
News Five More Of Xbox's Rare Classics Are Now Available For Switch Online
But some titles still aren't available on Xbox
Nintendo's latest broadcast revealed both Pentiment and Grounded would be coming to the Switch, but that actually wasn't the only Xbox-related news shared during the Partner Showcase. Five games in Rare's retro library have also made the journey across to the Switch Online service. This includes Snake...
Wednesday14th Feb 2024
News Rare Pokes Fun At Xbox Situation With Multiplatform Tease For Sea Of Thieves
"Wait, where were we going with this?"
If you can believe it, it's been more than a month since we first heard rumours of Sea of Thieves going multiplatform, and a new social media tease from developer Rare has perhaps delivered our most concrete evidence of the move yet. Taking to Twitter, the Sea Of Thieves account posted a short riddle...
Friday9th Feb 2024
News Killer Instinct Testing Out Ranked Crossplay (Xbox, Windows & Steam)
Try it out this weekend
Following the Killer Instinct: Anniversary Edition update in November last year, the development team is this weekend testing out Ranked Crossplay between Steam and Xbox/Windows. It's something the community has "been asking for years", and now thanks to some "fancy new services", users this weekend will be able to test it...
Wednesday17th Jan 2024
News Sea Of Thieves Season 11 Adds New Underwater 'Diving' Mechanic For Fast Travel
"Explore a redesigned Quest system"
The team at Rare has delivered its deep dive into Sea Of Thieves Season 11, featuring a major change to how quests can be tackled going forward. Yep, the game's new 'Diving' mechanic allows players to effectively fast travel to quests rather than need to sail the high seas towards an objective. This is an...
Thursday16th Nov 2023
News Killer Instinct 10th Anniversary Dev Stream Airs Later This Month
"The latest news on the upcoming changes"
The Xbox fighter Killer Instinct is celebrating its 10th anniversary later this month and as part of this it will be hosting a special Twitch livestream on 22nd November. During this developer stream, the team will be sharing "the latest news on the upcoming changes" to the game. This ties in with the...
