A sequel to the Diddy Kong Racing was being developed titled Donkey Kong Racing, where Donkey Kong would be the main character. The game was first announced at E3 in 2001 and a trailer was shown at Space World in the same year. The game was going to be released for the Nintendo Gamecube. However, because Rare was acquired by Microsoft in 2002, the game was cancelled. After the buyout, the game was heavily reworked as Sabreman Stampede, which was planned for an Xbox 360 release. However, this iteration, too, ended up being canceled due to a lack of focus and Rare's unfamiliarity with the hardware.