Rare Ltd, one of the best-known and most infamous British developers, just reached its fortieth birthday. On this day, Xbox celebrated the occasion on its Twitter handle, calling Rare’s current flagship title, Sea of Thieves, while the community players took off from there into the celebrations. The official tweet was showered in confetti and smiling emoji reactions while the replies had a different story to tell.
The comment section was flooded by gamers expressing all sorts of emotional poetic outpourings-nostalgia, rage, and more. @Undead_Scout wailing: “ENOUGH SEA OF THIEVES, Let Rare do something besides that damn game for once. THEY HAVE A WHOLE LEGACY YET ALL YOU LET THEM DO NOW IS SOT.” For others, like @EvanMcGrath, the argument became more concerned with facts and explained that Rare’s greatest works transpired before Microsoft bought them in 2002: “Rare’s best and most significant work was before you bought them. They’ve hardly done anything since, and nothing approaching Banjo and Conker.”
And honestly? They are right. Rare’s good old days in Nintendo 64 granted greats like Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct, and Donkey Kong Country. But then, ever since that time when Microsoft bought it, the studio took it slow. Sure, Sea of Thieves is the steeple hit and still receiving updates, but when will we ever get that Banjo-Threeie that people have been asking for? A new Conker? Any remasters from those older titles would be quite cool.
And those grievances are theories about missed opportunities. Others, though, like @Allkiller87, simply accused Microsoft of “handcuffing” Rare and wished the studio could begin working with Nintendo again, while @Eris1294 went full throttle: “Free Rare and Minecraft from Microsoft. They need to go independent again.” Ouch.
Some voice began to enter the conversation, fighting against the tide of complaints by praising Rare for the amazing years. @axle1324 simply added, “40 years! Cheers,” while @xeygar thanked Rare “for the most memorable, fun, and favorite fighting game of my childhood” (probably referring to Killer Instinct, which, let’s be honest, still sounds cool).
Yet, the general crowd would rather have Rare out of this Sea of Thieves grind so they could get back to an actual new Banjo, a Perfect Blue, a real Rare Replay release on PlayStation (lol, @VishalBhar94325 gave it a try), or anything at all. The demand is clear, the legacy deserves far more than hoist-the-sails-off-from-pirate-theme updates.
So, here’s to a Rated for Maturity, 40 years of Rare—a studio that forged gaming history but now is trapped in limbo. Is Microsoft finally going to let them cook up something new, or are we in for another 10 years of ship battles and kraken fights? Time will tell. At the very least, we do have memories and plenty of Twitter drama.
Oh, and if you do want to celebrate the anniversary with Sea of Thieves, then Xbox dropped some anniversary goodies in-game. Just don’t expect the comment section to gush over it.
