Rare
British studio founded in 1985, owned by Microsoft since 2002 and part of Xbox Game Studios, developer of Sea of Thieves.
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What Rare is
Rare is a game studio in the United Kingdom that describes itself on its own site as an Xbox Game Studio. The studio's contact details list its location as Manor Park, Twycross, Atherstone, CV9 3QN, and the site footer carries a Microsoft Corporation copyright notice. Rare's site publishes studio news, game listings and careers and internship information, and it links to Xbox and Microsoft pages for its terms and privacy notices.
Rare's identity as a first-party Microsoft studio is stated by the studio itself, not only by the platform holder, which makes its ownership the clearest corporate fact on its official pages. The studio does not publish a headcount, revenue or sales figures on the pages reviewed for this profile, and no founding date appears on its own site, so the earliest history here comes from Microsoft's acquisition announcement instead.
The studio's site is organised into about, games, careers and internship sections and carries its own news feed, with recent entries dated October 10, 2025 and February 3, 2026 covering studio community and outreach activity. The same site is where the studio posts company-level information about itself, separate from the Xbox and Microsoft pages it links to for legal notices. Those sections and the news feed are the studio's own record of its activity, and they sit alongside the Xbox and Microsoft pages it links to for terms and privacy.
How the studio started
Microsoft's press release of September 24, 2002, announcing its purchase of Rare, states that the studio was founded in 1985 as a partnership between the Stamper brothers and Joel Hochberg, who was Rare's president at the time. The release names Chris and Tim Stamper as co-founders, quotes both of them on the deal, and records that their team would continue working out of Warwickshire, England.
The same announcement puts the transaction at 375 million US dollars in cash and says Rare would immediately begin creating exclusive console titles for the Xbox platform. Rare's current listed address at Twycross sits in the same county as that Warwickshire location, and its own site now presents the studio simply as part of Xbox, which is consistent with the ownership change announced in 2002.
Sea of Thieves
Sea of Thieves is the game listed for Rare in our database. Xbox Wire reported on March 20, 2018 that the game was available worldwide that day on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs, which is the title's original release on Microsoft platforms. Rare is credited as the developer of the game on the platform holder's own announcement, with the Xbox organisation handling its publication. The same announcement names Rare as the developer and frames the release as a Microsoft-platform title.
The game's Steam store entry names Rare Ltd as developer and Xbox Game Studios as publisher, and lists a Steam release date of June 3, 2020, when the game arrived on that platform. The store listing classifies it under the action and adventure genres and describes it as a pirate adventure game. Publishing therefore runs through Xbox Game Studios rather than through Rare, matching the studio's position as a first-party developer. The store entry also records Windows as the supported platform for the Steam version of the game.
Games
- A Nightmare on Elm Street
- Anticipation
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge
- Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
- Banjo-Pilot
- Banjo-Tooie
- Battletoads
- Battletoads Arcade
- Battletoads in Battlemaniacs
- Battletoads in Ragnarok's World
- Beetlejuice
- Blast Corps
- Captain Skyhawk
- Cobra Triangle
- Conker's Bad Fur Day
- Conker's Big Reunion
- Conker's Other Bad Fur Day
- Conker's Pocket Tales
- Conker: Gettin' Medieval
- Conker: Live & Reloaded
- Diddy Kong Racing
- Digger T. Rock
- Dinosaur Planet
- Donkey Kong 64
- Donkey Kong Country
- Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
- Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
- Donkey Kong Land
- Donkey Kong Land 2
- Donkey Kong Land III
- Double Dare
- Everwild
- F-117 Night Storm
- Grabbed by the Ghoulies
- High Speed
- Hollywood Squares
- Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II
- It's Mr. Pants
- Jeopardy!
- Jeopardy! 25th Anniversary Edition
- Jeopardy! Junior Edition
- Jet Force Gemini
- Jetpac Refuelled
- Kameo
- Ken Griffey, Jr.'s Winning Run
- Killer Instinct
- Killer Instinct Gold
- Kinect Sports
- Kinect Sports Rivals
- Kinect Sports: Season Two
- Knight Lore
- Mickey's Racing Adventure
- Mickey's Speedway USA
- Monster Max
- Perfect Dark
- Perfect Dark Zero
- Pin Bot
- Project Dream
- R.C. Pro-Am
- R.C. Pro-Am II
- Sabre Wulf
- Sea of Thieves
- Sesame Street Letters
- Sesame Street: A-B-C/1-2-3
- Sesame Street: Numbers Count
- Slalom
- Snake Rattle 'n' Roll
- Sneaky Snakes
- Star Fox Adventures
- Super Glove Ball
- Super R.C. Pro-Am
- Taboo: The Sixth Sense
- The Amazing Spider-Man
- Time Lord
- Twelve Tales: Conker 64
- Viva Piñata
- Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise
- Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
- Wheel of Fortune
- Wheel of Fortune: Family Edition
- Wheel of Fortune: Junior Edition
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit
- Wizards & Warriors
- Wizards & Warriors X: The Fortress of Fear
- WWF Superstars
- WWF WrestleMania
- WWF WrestleMania Challenge
Questions people ask
Who owns Rare?
Microsoft. Rare describes itself as an Xbox Game Studio, and Microsoft announced its acquisition of the studio on September 24, 2002.
When was Rare founded?
In 1985, as a partnership between the Stamper brothers and Joel Hochberg, according to Microsoft's 2002 acquisition announcement.
When did Sea of Thieves come out?
It became available worldwide on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs on March 20, 2018, with the Steam version listed with a June 3, 2020 release date.