m$ OFFICIALLY owns rare

Microsoft buys game developer Rare
 
Nintendo keeps Donkey Kong, but other big franchises are headed to Xbox.
September 20, 2002: 5:12 PM EDT
By Staff Writer Chris Morris
 


NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Microsoft has upped the stakes in the console war, buying a development house that had previously made games exclusively for Nintendo.

CNN/Money has learned that Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft has purchased Rare Ltd., the development house behind such titles as Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye and the upcoming Star Fox Adventures. Nintendo previously held a 49 percent interest in Rare, but announced it had sold that ownership position Friday.

"We sold our position back to Rare and then they sold the entire company to Microsoft," said George Harrison, senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications for Nintendo of America.

   
Banjo-Kazooie will move to Microsoft...
Microsoft, which has not announced the deal, refused to comment. Industry analysts estimate the price of the deal was likely between $400 million and $500 million dollars.

Nintendo will retain exclusive rights for most original properties and franchises featured in games developed by Rare, including Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong and Star Fox. Rare, though, will retain rights to the characters it created independently, including the "Perfect Dark," "Conker" and "Banjo-Kazooie" franchises. "Perfect Dark" sold more than 1 million copies (earning more than $55 million), and will likely make its way to the Xbox. Banjo-Kazooie and Conker games are also likely.

The addition of Rare to Microsoft\'s collection of internal developers could be a big boost to the Xbox. The developer is very well regarded in the gaming world and its titles are typically big sellers. Microsoft, meanwhile, has been criticized for its lack of \'must-have\' games for the Xbox.

   
...but Donkey Kong will remain a Nintendo game.
Nintendo, which declined to discuss the sale price of its share of Rare, had an option to purchase the rest of the developer last fall, but decided against it, believing that the price was too high.

"Nintendo had the ability to continue its exclusive relationship with Rare, but in looking at the company\'s recent track record, it became clear that its value to the future of Nintendo would be limited," said Peter MacDougall, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America. "In other words, we passed on this opportunity for very good business reasons."

Rare\'s last title with Nintendo will be "Star Fox Adventures," which is due to be released in the United States next week. Harrison, though, said that will hardly be the end of that franchise or others Rare has worked on historically.

"We actually have a new Star Fox game under way," he said. "We have Namco developing that in Japan. ... It is a GameCube game. My understanding is it will come out in the second half of 2003. And we\'re going to be getting started on our own Donkey Kong product internally."  
 

 

sad, sad day

Woo

Buy out wars. When will this garbage stop?

what im wondering is:

1. did nintendo not have the money OR care to top m$\'s offer?
2. did nintendo realize the consequences of this?
3. is polyphony next on m$\'s list?
4. is there a bottom to m$\'s well \'o money?
5. does anyone miss rastalant?
6. does m$ realize that buying rare and broadening thier 8-14 demographic will not help thier predicament?

This buyout is good for everyone.

Nintendo gets money and is making a DOnkey Kong game by themselves (which will ultimately be better than DK64) and Rare will be funded heavily for future products. Perfect Dark 0 is something I am hoping for. And some completely new series, too.


Eric Jacob

I think the bigger issue here is.. who\'s going to take over those Nintnedo owned franchises now? People have gotten used to "Rare\'s" style in many of those games. Now they\'re going to be shipped off to be either developed internally (hopefully), or shipped out to some know-nothing newly aquired 2nd party who only has the "promise" of being good.. but no real experience.

*Shrugs* Guess we\'ll have to wait and see.

Originally posted by mm
what im wondering is:

1. did nintendo not have the money OR care to top m$\'s offer?
2. did nintendo realize the consequences of this?
3. is polyphony next on m$\'s list?
4. is there a bottom to m$\'s well \'o money?
5. does anyone miss rastalant?
6. does m$ realize that buying rare and broadening thier 8-14 demographic will not help thier predicament?

1. I heard that Nintendo had the chance to buy Rare over a year ago for almost half of what MS bought them for (or rather, the rumored price MS bought them for)

2. I guess Nintendo is more interested in companies like EA.  Maybe they even are hoping Square is jumping back over to them.  Either way, they\'re flippin idiots.

3. I thought Sony finally bought up Polyphony awhile ago?

4. No... but with the horrible Xbox sales, there might be soon.

5. Oh god no. What?! What?! What?! /me stabs self

6. I don\'t think MS cares much about this generation anymore.  They know they\'ve lost.  They\'re probably just trying to get some big names for the future generations.

lol...some of you people still amaze me.

I think the bigger issue here is.. who\'s going to take over those Nintnedo owned franchises now? People have gotten used to "Rare\'s" style in many of those games. Now they\'re going to be shipped off to be either developed internally (hopefully), or shipped out to some know-nothing newly aquired 2nd party who only has the "promise" of being good.. but no real experience.

Nintendo already metioned that they have another Star Fox game in development by Namco.  Outsourcing looks like the name of the game.

6. I don\'t think MS cares much about this generation anymore. They know they\'ve lost. They\'re probably just trying to get some big names for the future generations.

This is entirely wrong from every angle I can see it.  If MS doesn\'t make a big enough impact this generation, they won\'t next gen either.  This is when they need to build up their customer base.  

Lost...lost what?  The so called "console wars".  Who cares?  Who\'s garnering the most sales doesn\'t matter.  As long as MS is still selling Xbox at a reasonable rate, they\'ve accomplished what they set out to do.

Developing and establishing exclusive franchises is what will keep them alive.  Acquiring Rare was a nice step in the right direction.  While we probably won\'t see something from Rare for a while...you know whatever it is will sell big.

Likes the idea of having 2 of the best FPS on one console...those being PD and Halo:)

If MS really paid $500 million for Rare, I think they got ripped. Don\'t get me wrong, I like Rare games, but I don\'t think the company was worth 500 mil.

[Jumpman]

Overall, I\'m still kind of pissed about this. I look back at my N64 and SNES games and pratically all of them are either from Nintendo and Rare. I\'ll miss their one great game a year...

Someone already responded to mm\'s post, but its fun to attack an admin.

Originally posted by mm
what im wondering is:

1. did nintendo not have the money OR care to top m$\'s offer?
2. did nintendo realize the consequences of this?
3. is polyphony next on m$\'s list?
4. is there a bottom to m$\'s well \'o money?
5. does anyone miss rastalant?
6. does m$ realize that buying rare and broadening thier 8-14 demographic will not help thier predicament?

1. I can back up what nata said; Nintendo had the money Rare wanted, they had the chance, but they didn\'t want to spend 250 million on Rare apparently.

2. Everyone realizes that Rare helped them throughout the early days of the N64 generation, but since Goldeneye they\'ve been far from valuable. They only put out one and at the most two games a year, that\'s simply not enough to warrant them 250 million. Nintendo could be using that money to further invest in SK and Retro, securing 3rd party exclusives, or for more marketing. Rare simply isn\'t worth that much money anymore.

3. No one is safe from them.

4. 50 billion and counting...

5. Sure...

6. 6-30 demo is more like it. You can\'t tell me Goldneye and PD don\'t appeal to everyone. I know that was a  jab at Nintendo being "kiddie", but oh well...

I think the bigger issue here is.. who\'s going to take over those Nintnedo owned franchises now?

Just taking a shot in the dark here...Nintendo?

Seriously, they have two new amazing 2nd parties in Retro(Metroid) and Silicon Knights(Eternal Darkness, Too Human). Its look like they\'re going to fill Rare\'s shoes quite nicely.

Likes the idea of having 2 of the best FPS on one console...those being PD and Halo

I like it too...

Too damn bad Rare isn\'t developing for the PC. :rpissed: I would kill for PD0 with free online play and keyboard/mouse combo.

That probably included the rights to some of the games.

To a company that has a system aching for a good adventure game (Rare making some of the best), and for a FPS shooter heralded as one of the best...PD alone will be a multi-million seller.

Okay, MS/Rare now own at least Banjo-Kazooie, Conker, and Perfect Dark. If those franchises appear anywhere, it\'s going to be on Xbox and developed by Rare. Nintendo, of course, owns all of the DK stuff and Star Fox.

MM:

1. did nintendo not have the money OR care to top m$\'s offer?

Yes. Rare offered Nintendo the chance to buy them out first, and Nintendo declined.
 
2. did nintendo realize the consequences of this?

Apparently. IMHO, it\'s a big loss.. but the benefits could out-weigh Rare\'s importance. Face facts.. they are not quite as productive as they once were. Nor as talented. SFA is one game getting criticized by certain gamers (EGM, Famitsu, etc) for having too many item-collection elements among other things.

3. is polyphony next on m$\'s list?

Hehe.. if those guys are still 2nd-party, Sony is really stupid!

4. is there a bottom to m$\'s well \'o money?

$50 billion is comparable to scratching the surface of MS\'s money.
 
5. does anyone miss rastalant?
 
Kinda. I\'ve since had to replace him with a "normal" punching bag.. *sigh*

6. does m$ realize that buying rare and broadening thier 8-14 demographic will not help thier predicament?

"Thier" predicament is fine. Even I\'m getting kind of scared of MS now. Seriously, these guys can buy whatever the hell they want. I firmly believe that you\'re going to see Tecmo go MS 1st-party soon.. then id.. then Blizzard..

And maybe even Sega somewhere down the road. Who knows? I\'m just glad I own an Xbox now.

*goes back to playing Animal Crossing*

am i the only one that thought perfect dark was a turd?

Originally posted by mm
am i the only one that thought perfect dark was a turd?

no

I hated the game.

You\'re not alone, MM.

Single-player: Mediocre at best.

Multi-player: Rox0red your box0rs.

I loved GoldenEye but couldn\'t even bring myself to finish PD. That\'s how much I disliked it.

[Jumpman]

It had its moments. The air force one part, the area 51 part, Chicago, that dudes home, and maybe a few other good levels.