Banjo-kazooie Director Gregg Mayles Confirms He's Left Rare

Gregg Mayles, nan head of Sea of Thieves and designer connected Donkey Kong Country, has announced that he's near Rare. News of Mayles' exit was first reported successful July 2025 during a rash of layoffs and crippled cancellations crossed Xbox Games Studios, but nan short poem he shared connected X coming makes it official.

With a 36-year tenure astatine nan studio, Mayles saw its modulation from an exclusive Nintendo partner to a Microsoft subsidiary. He helped creation games for illustration Battletoads, created Banjo-Kazooie and erstwhile workplace founders Tim and Chris Stamper near successful 2007, stepped up and became Rare's imaginative director. Mayles besides led nan squad down Sea of Thieves, 1 of Rare's modern successes.

The workplace has been supporting Sea of Thieves pinch caller contented since it was released successful 2018, but was besides moving connected a caller project, Everwild, that was announced successful 2019. The crippled went done a troubled improvement process complete nan past fewer years, and Rare reportedly started from scratch successful 2021 pinch Mayles taking complete arsenic director. Microsoft's determination to cancel nan crippled and layoff unit astatine nan workplace this summertime is apt 1 of nan reasons he left.

Losing Mayles is conscionable 1 illustration of Microsoft's self-inflicted wounds from 2025. The institution not only made cuts astatine Halo Studios and Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10, it besides accrued nan prices of some Xbox consoles and Game Pass Ultimate. All of these changes are seemingly successful work of shifting nan Xbox business into thing that's much focused connected subscriptions and crippled publishing, but nan modulation decidedly seems for illustration a achy one.