Xbox One studio Rare cuts jobs as part of “methodology” shift

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May 19, 2014

United Kingdom-based developer Rare Ltd., developer of April's Kinect Sports Rivals for Xbox One and classic games like GoldenEye 007 and Banjo-Kazooie, has laid off a number of developers recently as part of a "methodology" shift at the iconic studio.

Sources told CVG that just under 20 employees are affected, including Chris Sutherland, who has worked at Rare for a period of over two decades. CVG has also learned that 15-year Rare staffer Gavin Price is on the way out as part of the cuts at Rare.

"At Xbox, our goal is to constantly create new fun, social, and interactive entertainment experiences," Microsoft said in a statement. "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."

It is unclear how specifically Rare's development process and methodology are going to change. Rare recently shipped Xbox One game Kinect Sports Rivals, and the company is currently evaluating what it will work on next. There is only one open position posted on Rare's careers page.