In the wake of heavy layoffs against UK developer Rare, Microsoft has affirmed its intent to support the studio, and the value it places on it.
“We are very fortunate in having Rare and Lionhead in the UK as crown jewels of Microsoft Studios,” Microsoft Studios Europe boss Phil Harrison told Eurogamer.
“Rare is working on a couple of things at the moment,” Harrison said, “which we will announce at the right time. But I’m really excited by the things they’re doing and I believe you will be as well when you hear about them.”
Whether those new things will continue Rare’s tradition of developing for Kinect remains to be seen, although it is less likely given Microsoft’s decision to unbundle the peripheral from Xbox One.
“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,” he concluded.
