While Xbox revealed a lot of new games at its E3 show, at least one formerly revealed exclusive was absent with no explanation: Everwild, Rare’s beautiful fantasy title. Well, that wasn’t an oversight, says a new report. Everwild wasn’t at the show because it’s undergoing a behind-the-scenes refresh. And because of this, we’re not going to see the game until 2024 at the earliest.
The report comes from VGC, which alleges that, at some point between now and when the game was revealed in 2019, the game’s development has been completely restarted from scratch — most likely after the 2020 departure of creative director Simon Woodroffe, who was replaced by Gregg Mayles. Executive producer Louise O’Connor told VGC: “Gregg Mayles joined us late last year as Creative Director, and the team has never been stronger. Since showing the world our Enternals trailer, we have been making progress on all aspects of Everwild.”
Because of these team shakeups, the team is hoping the game will be released in 2024 at the earliest. Another problem with the game is that the team is apparently having trouble with the game’s design. A mandate from the top at Rare says the game is not supposed to have combat, which is allegedly causing problems for the designers. When we first saw the game, it allegedly was about the player character interacting with the magical nature around them, but there’s no way of knowing if that’s still the case.
The last we heard of Everwild was back in July 2020 during the Xbox Games Showcase. The absence of Everwild at this year’s event was a bit obscured by the fact that Rare was at E3. Rare’s flagship title is still Sea of Thieves, which did get a gameplay showcase at the Xbox E3 show. The game is getting a licensed Pirates of the Caribbean crossover, with Jack Sparrow making an appearance.
Source: VGC
