Xbox developer Uncommon, which at the moment is finest identified for Sea of Thieves, has commented on the latest mass layoffs at Microsoft that led to the cancellation of the studio’s long-in-development undertaking Everwild.
As a part of the Sea of Thieves developer update video for July, Uncommon manufacturing director Drew Stevens began off by addressing the layoffs. “It will be unusual to leap straight into our typical updates with out acknowledging the information that we have ended improvement on Everwild right here at Uncommon,” Stevens stated (via GamesRadar).
The sport was formally revealed all the best way again in November 2019, however past a trailer for it in 2020, updates on it have been virtually non-existent. Sources stated Uncommon was unable to search out the fitting path for Everwild, and now it is now not in improvement.
The cancellation of Everwild did not “instantly influence” Sea of Thieves, Stevens added, mentioning that improvement is constant as deliberate. “Our focus as a crew and a studio is on supporting our mates and colleagues whose roles are in danger,” Stevens stated.
The developer went on to say that it is “unimaginable for one thing like this to not ripple via the studio and have an effect on all of us not directly or one other, so please bear with us.”
“I simply needed to say thanks to everybody who’s reached out to test in on us and share their type phrases of assist. Genuinely, thanks, it actually means loads,” Stevens stated.
It wasn’t simply Everwild that acquired canned as a part of the Xbox cutbacks, as Microsoft additionally canceled a brand new MMO from The Elder Scrolls On-line developer ZeniMax On-line Studios, in addition to the brand new Good Darkish. Microsoft additionally laid off quite a few builders throughout its community of studios.
The cuts got here as a part of a wider downsizing effort at Microsoft that affected greater than 9,000 individuals and in opposition to the backdrop of Microsoft investing billions into synthetic intelligence tasks. A number of the laid-off builders on the Microsoft-owned Sweet Crush studio King say they are set to be replaced by AI systems they helped create.