Incredibly,Xbox’sRare turns 40 years old today on Jul 25, 2025. Rare created some of thebest games of all timewithBanjo-Kazooie,GoldenEye 007,Donkey Kong Country, and countless other classics. Thankfully, Xbox hasn’t forgotten this as they have planned a ton of celebration items both in-game and in real life for Rare’s 40th anniversary.
An official post onXbox Wiredescribes thehuge list of celebration items, fromSea of Thievescosmetics to T-shirts and hoodies to vinyl soundtracks, and more.
What’s Arriving For Rare’s 40th Anniversary
All Rare Fans Will Be Happy
First off, today brings Rare-themed gamerpics to the Xbox selection, along with an Xbox dynamic background celebrating numerous Rare titles from the past 40 years. Fangamer is also releasing retro Rare merch, including T-shirts, a hoodie, and a pin, plus 8bitdo is releasing alimited edition Rare Xbox controller.
iam8bit is also opening pre-orders for a Rare 40th anniversary vinyl collection, and Evercade is releasing a new cartridge collection filled with retro Rare titles. Tomorrow, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can claim aRare Ruby EmoteinSea of Thieves, plus the day after that, on August 6, a heritage sale will go live on theSea of Thieves’storefront for classic Rare-themed items.
That’s not all. On August 14, a new40th anniversary cosmetic bundlewill arrive in theSea of Thievesstorefront, and at the end of the month, on August 30, theSea of ThievesSeason 17 Community Weekend will start as well. There’s a ton to like here for all Rare fans in time for the studio’s 40th anniversary.
Xbox Is Doing The Right Thing For Such A Celebrated Studio
Unlike Sony, Xbox Does Its Anniversaries Right
There’s a ton of negative stuff you can say about Xbox, but theydo nail their anniversaries. The 20th anniversary of Xbox in 2021 was handled phenomenally, with the addition of the last batch of backward-compatible titles. This 40th anniversary for Rare is also perfect.
Frankly, Xbox needed to treat Rare’s anniversary right, considering they just recentlylaid off thousands of employees, leading to game cancellations, such asRare’sEverwild. The future of Rare is still in doubt for me due to theEverwildcancellation and some of theveteran staff leaving afterward.
Usually, when veteran staff leave, that’s a terrible sign. However,Xboxis doing the right thing for Rare’s 40th anniversary, so hopefully, the future is bright for Xbox’s most legendary studio.
