Sea of Thieves Developer Rare Prepares New Games Following Activision Acquisition

Following its move under Activision, Rare is working on projects beyond Sea of Thieves, and the fate of these unannounced titles from the British studio may now rest with the publisher of Call of Duty.

According to The Game Business, several employees in Rare’s central operations team lost their jobs following structural changes at Xbox, though the studio continues to develop Sea of Thieves and other undisclosed projects.

This is a difficult period for Rare. Microsoft canceled Everwild in 2025, after which the studio significantly reduced its headcount, reassigned some staff to the Sea of Thieves team, and cut back on using external contractors.

It remains unclear what the studio is currently developing and whether these new games will remain exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem. Activision will now decide their future and could cancel the projects if problems arise.

Rare’s catalog still includes franchises such as Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, and Viva Piñata. Microsoft has not yet confirmed the development of new games in these series.