Screenshots From Rare's Cancelled Everwild Have Appeared Online - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 13 October 2025 / 2,124 Views
Microsoft in July of this year laid off over 9,000 employees, including at the Xbox division. A number of games were ultimately cancelled like Rare's Everwild, the ZeniMax Online Studios MMOPRPG Blackbird, and The Initiative's Perfect Dark.
Screenshots have now appeared on social media of Rare's Everwild.
Gregg Mayles, who has worked at Rare for over 35 years, reportedly left the company following the cancellation of Everwild.
Mayles had been the director on Everwild since the team was restructured in 2021. His first credited game was 1990's Solar Jetman. He also helmed Donkey Kong Country, the Banjo series, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Viva Pinata, and more. He was also the creative director on Sea of Thieves. He has worked on nearly 30 games at Rare over the years.
View the leaked screenshots below:
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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Not sure what this game was going to be... but it was gorgeous
what a shame
To me this looks like it might have been further along in development than the other games they cancelled. Perfect Dark didn't have a finished vertical slice demo almost 4 years after it's development was rebooted and Crystal Dynamics brought in to assist them, while Project Blackbird was still in pre-production in 2025 after beginning development in 2018. This at least looks like it was already in a playable state in the 4 years since it's reboot, no idea why they cancelled it.
Further along doesn't mean anything really. One thing for sure it wasn't further along to be releasing within a years time I am sure. The real question what did they show to MS that made management believe this game was not worth investing anymore. This we probably will never know. I am sure they showed something, maybe even argued for continued funding but something about the game or the time it would take to come to market made MS drop it. After all this time, was this turning out to be another Redfall.
Most likely Microsoft leadership having bad taste in quality games.
