No more rumors.. the truth about Rare!

nataku, you\'re from Nebraska? what part?


Eric Jacob

It\'s Official.

Taken from Shacknews:



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While I wasn\'t able to get anyone on record, I was able to get several (read several) off the record confirmations that last night\'s Microsoft/Rare deal has been signed. Apparently I\'m not the only one, as this insider-only article at IGN says the same thing. I wasn\'t able to confirm that outrageous, near a half-billion USD figure, but I\'m certain of the rest of it. Regarding Rare\'s current projects, I did get a tip from two different sources that Kameo: Elements of Power will make the leap to Microsoft\'s console, and that Perfect Dark 2 may as well, providing a settlement can be reached with Nintendo to transfer the rights. It\'s a stunning turn of events to see Nintendo\'s most prized second party developer, and the one largely responsible for the lifespan of the N64 jump ship so suddenly.

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Taken from PlanetGamecube:

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News Article: Microsoft Swallows Rare
News Date: 09/12/2002
You knew it was coming. Get all the info right here…

According to our sources inside Nintendo, Nintendo has officially sold its share of Rare to Microsoft. Last year, Nintendo had the opportunity to purchase the company, and refused. Rare put up the for sale sign and was looked at by both Microsoft and Activision. Microsoft won the bidding war, and Nintendo cut its ties with Rare. That’s what we do know.

Star Fox Adventures is still due out on September 23rd, but GBA titles like Sabre Wulf, Diddy Kong Pilot, Donkey Kong: Coconut Crackers, and Banjo Kazooie are still an unknown. We are assuming that at least 1 or 2 of these are already finished, and should be released by the end of the year, if not early next year.

This announcement is said to be made official at Microsoft’s X02 Europe event in Seville, Spain on September 24th. Ironically, it\'s the day after Nintendo ships Rare’s one and only GameCube title.

We are expecting official comment from Nintendo sometime today.

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Well this just sucks. Star Fox Adventures will be the only Rare Gamecube title and quite possibly the last Nintendo game by them as well.

Sorry I didn\'t see the topic on this.

Admin please delete.

Edit: Better yet, I\'ll just merge it into this thread. In case anyone is confused, Chuck posted another thread just abit ago about this recent news. Instead of deletin\' the thread, I just merged it with his source / post . I figure every bit of news on this is worth see\'ing or reading. So, if anyone else has any other links about this, post \'em here. [/color]

Living-In-Clip

"Vivendi is a media conglomerate, they own Universal, Blizzard, and Sierra." - Altered.

Ayup. Vivendi is the company which bought up Blizzard, and Sierra after Havas cut them loose. Hmm not sure.. or maybe Vivendi is a subsidiary of Havas? Dosen\'t matter tho.. those are still the companies which we\'re talking about. Although one thing strikes me as odd... why didn\'t Sony try to put in their bid? Granted, they\'ve got plenty of high quality 3rd parties already.. but this is Rare we\'re talking about, one of the most respected 2nd parties in the biz. Yet, from what I\'ve heard they\'re vigorously persuing a bid for Vivendi.

I dunno.. a certain small part of me would like to see Sierra owned by Sony and LucasArts owned by Microsoft.. and see that old rivalry sparked again with all the good natured backbiting and vicious jokes. A greater part of me would like to see Sega or LucasArts own Sierra because of their common pasts.

Most of all tho.. I just want to see Ken Williams in charge again.. and to see Sierra become a leader in the industry like they once were... not owned by anyone. They were one of the founders of the PC gaming industry.. It almost seems like a sin to see them owned by a console company.

Anyhow, Kudos to MS for securing one of the best 2nd parties in the buisness.. but like Nataku, I wonder how this will affect the quality of their games. MS jus spent half a billion on them.. will they really be satisfied with one game every 2-3 years?

http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/020912/0337000147_1.html

What the hell? Is Nintendo selling their shares or not?

bah, console gaming takes another turn down the dark path

Originally posted by nataku

Like it was said above, good exclusives are the key to success.  IF MS and Rare do get a hold of franchises like Perfect Dark, this will be huge for MS.  If they don\'t I doubt it\'ll have that big of an effect.

A good game is still that...a good game.  Rare has an awesome reputation for almost flawless games.  Regardless of the character, they will still be great.  With that reputation comes its\' own hype for every game coming down the pipeline.  If Project Gotham, Dead or Alive 3, and Halo can be million sellers... you can expect even more so from Rare.  That\'s a given.  

Then there is the fact that PD will compete with Halo.  MS zealots praise Halo like it\'s their savior, so I doubt a game like PD0 on Xbox would sell as well as PD0 on the GameCube.

So I guess since Ratchet & Clank is on the same system as Jak & Daxter that people will just turn their heads away from one of them?  That doesn\'t make sense.  I highly doubt MS will have Halo and Perfect Dark compete around the same release date.  Halo 2 is due out late next year, then Perfect Dark in 2004...looks like the perfect filler/follow-up if you ask me.

I have a feeling that MS won\'t put up with the delays of Rare.  They\'ll probably force rare to release their games without all the features Rare wanted.  For some reason I don\'t see MS beefing up the Rare development team....

If MS has come this far, and spent this much money...do you honestly think they would just throw it away?  Rare is not a going to be some trophy, Ms bought them for a reason.  Again, I highly doubt MS will let such an investment be a waste of their time.

mm, how is this bad for the industry?

Sonyfan, yes Sega buying Sierra would be great, since the two used to be (I am talking about heads of staff) very close. I mean, I have got a Sega Visions with a write-up from Ken in it.


Eric Jacob

I can see some of Rare\'s top guy\'s walking like Dave Doak & Steve Ellis quit Rare to set up FRD

Originally posted by MAKAVELIUK
I can see some of Rare\'s top guy\'s walking like Dave Doak & Steve Ellis quit Rare to set up FRD

I keep wondering whether deals like this would get made if a companies top employees have no contract to stay on for at least a few years with the outfit that\'s being sold.




Oh, and BTW:




 You will all be assimilated!

I\'ve got that same issue, Eric. Sitting right next to me actually. Their relationship goes much deeper than that tho, with employees regularly switching back and forth between companies. I\'ve even heard em diss Nintnedo several times while talking up Sega in various articals, interviews, and such.

Heh, I wonder how they\'d feel about being owned by Nintnedo should the big N decide to buy them out. (Highly unlikely.. but still within the realm of possiblity) I don\'t think Sierra has produced one single solitary game for Nintnedo past KQ5 on the NES. They\'re all over Sega, Sony, and MS\'s sacks tho.

M$ can\'t keep buying their games and going through cash like water.  Y can\'t developers develop for them before being bribed huge wads of cash, is there no loyalty where there\'s no money?  We\'ll I guess with M$ there\'s always money.

Is it just me, or does this remind anyone of when Sony entered the market?

Just saying...

^guess no one\'s going to argue that.

It\'s different for Sony, because they aren\'t evil!!! They don\'t buy companies that make games for other systems, nor exclusive titles (hides Tomb Raider and Psygnosis)


Eric Jacob