Sea of Thieves Fans Worry About Rare's Future as Studio Falls Under Activision in Xbox Shake-Up

Sea of Thieves enthusiasts are anxious about Rare's fate after the studio was placed under Activision as part of Xbox's latest restructuring.

Today, Microsoft unveiled significant changes to its first-party studios, including layoffs and consolidation. Activision is set to take on many responsibilities at Xbox, such as leading the development of the next Halo game. Rare, the developer behind Sea of Thieves, has also been brought under Activision's wing, prompting concerns about what lies ahead for the team. Historically, Activision has absorbed beloved studios like Neversoft and assigned them to support Call of Duty, often having them create maps and assist with the FPS franchise.

"If the years of watching how Activision operates are any clue, then we can expect one thing: Rare becoming a CoD support team in the CoD mines, just like every other studio Activision gets its hands on," one fan remarked.

Some players hold out hope that Rare might be allowed to work on projects better suited to its strengths, such as a new Crash Bandicoot or Banjo-Kazooie game, given its legacy in platformers. However, no specific plans for Rare have been announced, leaving fans uncertain.

Activision has faced heavy criticism for excessive monetization, use of generative AI, and oversaturating franchises like Call of Duty to the point of fan fatigue. This has led some to fear that Sea of Thieves could suffer a similar fate.

"I can't see this being a good thing, if the way Activision has handled COD is anything to go by," another fan wrote on Reddit.

"This doesn't bode well. I'm a lifelong Call of Duty fan, and Activision is probably one of the worst companies in gaming. Everything they touch withers and dies. Mass layoffs, AI, crazy microtransactions, and all sorts of nonsense will be coming soon based on their track record," expressed another worried player.

It will likely take a few years to fully gauge the impact of these changes. Rare has been in a peculiar position for years, so some fans are at least relieved that the studio wasn't shut down or sold off like other Xbox-owned studios. After thriving in the '90s and 2000s, Rare was assigned to Kinect projects by Microsoft in the early 2010s, which many saw as a misuse of its talents. Eventually, they created the highly popular Sea of Thieves, but beyond that, Rare hasn't produced much of note. It spent a decade on another game, Everwild, which was canceled last year after struggling to make progress, resulting in little public exposure. This may influence whether Rare is allowed to develop its own games in the future or becomes a support studio for Call of Duty and Halo.