Rare has apparently experienced layoffs following underwhelming sales of Kinect Sports Rivals.
Eurogamer reports that around 16 people have been let go, consisting predominantly of design and project managers. When we reached out Microsoft about the report, we received the below statement.
"At Xbox, our goal is to constantly create new fun, social and interactive entertainment experiences. As part of Rare's commitment to this goal, we have made a decision to change our development process and methodology at Rare to best support our future projects, this has led to us reviewing the skills and the makeup of our development teams in our business.
"Rare continues to invest in our people and future projects."
Kinect Sports Rivals, the developers most recent effort, was meant to release as an Xbox One launch title but was delayed until last month. It seems the game underperformed upon release however and, as a result, the studio is out of pocket. Having said that, with 150 employees focused on the game at the peak of its dev cycle, now it's out in the wild it's pretty normal that the workforce is trimmed while the studio decides what's next.
Last week, Xbox boss Phil Spencer described Kinect Sports Rivals as "successful" and revealed the developer was thinking about what to do following Microsoft's decision to stop bundling Kinect with Xbox One, given how many past projects had focused on the motion camera.
Rare's long been rumoured to have several irons in the fire, though it's unclear whether these changes will mean any announcements are delayed. IGN wishes the best of luck to anyone affected by today's sad news.
