Gregg Mayles, the veteran Uncommon designer and director, will reportedly depart the studio following yesterday’s sweeping cuts of Xbox workers and tasks that included the long-in-development Everwild.
Mayles’ departure, as reported by VGC, ends an influential profession at Uncommon stretching again greater than 35 years, to the studio’s origins growing video games like Battletoads for NES and thru its N64 heyday, throughout which Mayles helped design characters equivalent to Diddy Kong.
Maybe finest often called the director of N64 basic Banjo-Kazooie, Mayles extra just lately served as inventive director on hit pirate sport Sea of Thieves. During the last 4 years, nonetheless, Mayles has been overseeing Everwild, Uncommon’s long-gestating fantasy follow-up that may now not see the sunshine of day.
Everwild’s cancellation, now confirmed by Microsoft, comes six years after the sport’s preliminary public announcement, and after round a decade of labor by Uncommon on the challenge general. Louise O’Connor, who had been serving as the sport’s producer, may also reportedly go away Uncommon, after greater than twenty years.
IGN has contacted Microsoft for remark.
The final Everwild trailer, launched in July 2020, carried the next description: “Everwild is a model new IP from Uncommon. A singular and unforgettable expertise await in a pure and magical world.” Again in February this yr, Xbox boss Phil Spencer mentioned he had just lately visited the studio to atone for the sport’s progress. “It’s good to see the staff with Everwild and the progress that they’re making,” Spencer mentioned on the time.
However yesterday afternoon, Xbox made Everwild’s cancellation official by way of a company-wide e-mail from Xbox Sport Studios boss Matt Booty. The Initiative’s Excellent Darkish reboot has additionally been cancelled, in addition to different unannounced tasks equivalent to a brand new MMO from The Elder Scrolls On-line developer ZeniMax On-line Studios.
“We’ve made the choice to cease improvement of Excellent Darkish and Everwild in addition to wind down a number of unannounced tasks throughout our portfolio,” Booty wrote.
“As a part of this, we’re closing considered one of our studios, The Initiative. These selections, together with different modifications throughout our groups, mirror a broader effort to regulate priorities and focus assets to arrange our groups for larger success inside a altering trade panorama.
“We didn’t make these decisions evenly, as every challenge and staff signify years of effort, creativeness, and dedication.”
Picture credit score: YouTube.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You may attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
