After the announcement of a Kinect-less Xbox One bundle and a number of studio redundancies earlier this year, Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed in an interview with CVG that the UK studio Rare is working on a new project while considering what it wants to do heading forward. "I think it's about them [Rare] thinking about the next game that's going to be the next 'Rare game' and really stand for what they are. I know they've got some great ideas," he said. "So they've got some new ideas, they're excited about them and I think Rare should, can, and will be an important part of our game future."

Over the years Rare has become a studio well-known for a number of high-profile games including GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie , Conker's Bad Fur Day, Killer Instinct, and Donkey Kong Country. Since its acquisition by Microsoft, the studio has worked on a handful of games including Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Viva Pinata, and Perfect Dark Zero. In recent years, much of Rare's development time has been spent creating installments in the Kinect Sports series."Right now with Rare we're at a point where I don't want the Rare brand to mean Kinect Sports. The Rare brand can be more valuable to them, to us and to gamers than that," he said, noting that the company's strength was once their ability to successfully tackle a wide range of genres. "...I don't see them as a 'certain genre' studio: their strength has always been in their diversity."

Cassidee is a freelance writer for various outlets around the web. You can chat with her about all things geeky on Twitter