Phil Spencer: "It's nice to see the team with Everwild and the progress that they're making"

A game that was very silent for a long time is Rare's upcoming Everwild, which was announced in 2019. It was shown with two trailers, but quickly disappeared from the radar as the team changed and there were reports of development problems.

But last year, signs of life began to appear again, not least from Microsoft's gaming boss Phil Spencer, who visited British developer Rare last autumn and got to play Everwild, a clear sign that it's not defunct and is actually in a playable state. What's more, Rare's annual Christmas card featured Everwild, leading many to believe that the game would make an appearance in 2025.

And that could very well be the case. Just recently, Spencer appeared on XboxEra's podcast and was asked which Xbox games he's most looking forward to. One of them is apparently Everwild, and he said that development is moving forward (transcribed by VGC):

"I was recently out at Rare. It's nice to see the team with Everwild and the progress that they're making."

Spencer also mentioned that developers are allowed to take their time to get things ready, which he says is something Xbox leadership has been striving for:

"It has been [a while]. And we've been able to give those teams time in what they're doing which is good and still have a portfolio like we have. It's like a dream that Matt (Booty) and I have had for a long time, so it's finally good to be there. We can give those teams time."

Whether we actually see any tangible signs of life from Everwild this year remains to be seen, but given the aforementioned Christmas card, it doesn't seem unreasonable.