On this day in 2002, Microsoft purchased Rare for $375 million. It almost turned into a disaster. Today, Rare is one of the most successful studios.
- Thread starter FarSight XR-20
- Start date
Yeah basically the closest analog I can think of to this sale would be Sony selling Naughty Dog + TLOU + Uncharted IP to Microsoft today and even that might not fully cover it.
I wouldn't call them that successful. They have started to be more successful than previously. But they aren't there yet. I'm sure Microsoft expected them to do better than they have. But I wish them the best and Everwild looks great.
Always felt like Rare games were very mixed. Even back on NES, SNES, N64 and the original Xbox. Not sure why. I'm glad they're still around and making unique games. The next one looks very cool.
I've certainly have had fun with their games, but I never felt like it was a tremendous acquisition for Microsoft. Nor was it that big of a loss for Nintendo, despite Golden Eye's impact. They're a solid studio all around, but I think the waves this deal made back then were slightly overblown.
I've certainly have had fun with their games, but I never felt like it was a tremendous acquisition for Microsoft. Nor was it that big of a loss for Nintendo, despite Golden Eye's impact. They're a solid studio all around, but I think the waves this deal made back then were slightly overblown.
They're slowly climbing out of their post-Microsoft hole, but "Most successful"? Before Sea of Thieves hit its stride the last Rare title that felt like it was made by the same beloved "Rareware" studio was Viva Piñata about 10 years prior. And the sequel to that released the same year as the most recent - and definitely worst - Banjo-Kazooie title. (From what I understand Killer Instinct was made by 3 studios total with Rare just overseeing the project due to the IP, same with Battletoads)
Everwild looks great but from what we've been hearing even the devs don't know what the gameplay is going to be which doesn't inspire much confidence.
Everwild looks great but from what we've been hearing even the devs don't know what the gameplay is going to be which doesn't inspire much confidence.
SoT is not my type of game but I'm looking forward to Everwild, I wish we knew at least one thing about the gameplay tho.
Playing sea of thieves with my daughter, brother and his wife every week is always a blast.
Great write up!!
Great write up!!
What a great thread! Good job, OP!
Rare's late 00's and the beginning of the XBO era was really rough.
The turnaround has been incredible, though. Sea of Thieves is an incredible game, and the support, the amount of (FREE!) content and the community that Rare developed are incredible. It's no surprise that it's player base are in millions.
Let's see what Everwild brings! If it's anything like SoT, the future looks very promising.
Rare's late 00's and the beginning of the XBO era was really rough.
The turnaround has been incredible, though. Sea of Thieves is an incredible game, and the support, the amount of (FREE!) content and the community that Rare developed are incredible. It's no surprise that it's player base are in millions.
Let's see what Everwild brings! If it's anything like SoT, the future looks very promising.
Nuts and Bolts was my favourite 360 exclusive, shame they immediately got banished to the Kinect mines, but they seem to be back on track now.
I still haven't enjoyed a Rare game since they have been with Microsoft personally, but I am hoping Everwild changes that.
interesting read.
but i wouldn't say one really successful game really makes the handling of Rare for the last 2 decades much less of a disaster. It's wasn't almost a disaster, it was fully qualified 2 decades worth of terrible management kind of disaster.
One can only be hopeful they'll be better managed this decade and it seems like their on the right path.
but i wouldn't say one really successful game really makes the handling of Rare for the last 2 decades much less of a disaster. It's wasn't almost a disaster, it was fully qualified 2 decades worth of terrible management kind of disaster.
One can only be hopeful they'll be better managed this decade and it seems like their on the right path.
Viva Piñata was ok, I suppose. But truth be told, Rare became immediately worse once they left Nintendo and never recovered. We'll see what the future holds, but Rare is not one of today's "most successful studios". Sorry.
Yeah not sure what the OP is smoking. Rare was like Naughty Dogs of today back in its heyday with Nintendo. It got a long way to go though.
They are a good studio and it was money well spent, i don't consider it a top studio but they make good games, not amazing, but good games
Warms my heart to see it, since I grew up on their games. Come the turn of the decade, I was thinking they would be shut down.
There is no comparison to peak Rare. The closest would be Insomanic, with the level of output, variety of genres, and quality. But they don't even touch the quality Rare had in those SNES and N64 days. Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong Racing, Killer Instincts, Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, and Goldeneye. 2D Platformer, Fighting, FPS, and 3D adventure platformer. Single handily made console shooters legit. Most studios have one hit, maybe two hits, but seldom move away from their preferred genre.
There is no comparison to peak Rare. The closest would be Insomanic, with the level of output, variety of genres, and quality. But they don't even touch the quality Rare had in those SNES and N64 days. Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong Racing, Killer Instincts, Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazooie, and Goldeneye. 2D Platformer, Fighting, FPS, and 3D adventure platformer. Single handily made console shooters legit. Most studios have one hit, maybe two hits, but seldom move away from their preferred genre.
Everwild looks awesome, but I'm a little confused about the "one of the most successful studios" bit... what metric are we using?
I still don't understand why Perfect Dark is not on PC and Gamepass... I want to play the remaster badly.
Ops so no one can say they don't like sot? Lol
Rare with Ms I miss Conker and PDZ.
Sea of Thieves is their best game ever only behind Goldeneye and maaaaybe PD. It sure wasn't that way when it launched but they managed to turn that ship around (pun intended)
Sold great (especially the first one) because they were of the time, but nobody would say they're great games now
God, Don Mattrick really tried his hardest to kill that studio with avatars and Kinect. While they might have been money makers (aside from Rivals) it really is a miracle that they've stuck around and really turned it around.
Honestly, after the whole Kinect/Xbox One launch, I really don't give a fuck about him but I wonder what Don Mattrick thinks of Xbox today. He's disappeared to his huge ass mansion after finishing off Zynga. Xbox has gone on an entirely different path. Mattrick, Steve Balmer, and Terry Myerson really fucked the division over for a long time and they're just now rebounding from that.
Honestly, after the whole Kinect/Xbox One launch, I really don't give a fuck about him but I wonder what Don Mattrick thinks of Xbox today. He's disappeared to his huge ass mansion after finishing off Zynga. Xbox has gone on an entirely different path. Mattrick, Steve Balmer, and Terry Myerson really fucked the division over for a long time and they're just now rebounding from that.
the Looking for Group feature on live is really good and anytime I found a group of strangers on there we had a good time
Fan of Rare since the DKC days, sooo glad to see them make such a success out of Sea of thieves.
Oh there's a looking for group feature? That's cool! How does it work? Is it an in game option or something?
MS has shown a pretty solid track record of how to manage the studios they acquire. There's a reason every acquisition is met with excitement