Developer of Kinect Sports Rivals, Rare has been hit by a number of high-profile layoffs according to sources at both Eurogamer and CVG. It’s been reported that 16 staff members have lost their jobs in what a Microsoft representative told Joystiq is a change in the ” development process and methodology at Rare to best support our future projects.”
The Microsoft representative also told Joystiq, ‘At Xbox, our goal is to constantly create new fun, social and interactive entertainment experiences, this has led to us reviewing the skills and the makeup of our development teams in our business.”
CVG reports that among those who have lost their jobs are Chris Sutherland who was the Lead Progammer on Battletoads and company mainstay Gavin Price. Price had been with Rare for 15 years, but his LinkedIn Profile suggests he left the company this month.
The layoffs come after Phil Spencer spoke about the future of Rare and suggested the company is “in the process of evaluating what they want to do next.” Rare’s latest game — Kinect Sports Rivals — was met with a lukewarm critical and commercial response on release. Considering that Rare was been a major proponent of Kinect, the announcement of a Kinect-less Xbox One has surely affected the developer.
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