Activision lost a bidding war to acquire Rare over 20 years ago, and now it's overseeing the studio

Xbox's new reshuffle has seen Rare moved under Activision, 24 years after Xbox outbid the publisher for the studio. While the studio's Sea of Thieves is seemingly super successful, it was one of the powerhouse developers of the 1990s only to flounder throughout the 2000s and 2010s; the big shift being when Rare was purchased by Microsoft. Latest Videos FromGamesRadar+ And with Xbox's latest wave of redundancies that continue the planned 3,200 jobs cut throughout FY27, Microsoft has announced that Rare will be moved under Activision as part of this reshuffling. Dring notes that when Nintendo declined to buy the remaining 51% of the studio a bidding war for the developer started that was eventually won by Xbox, with the studio being purchased in September 2002 for $375 million.