The only "source" for Nuts & Bolts being forced by Microsoft anybody ever seems to be able to come up with is a post on 4chan.
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
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OP
When I say "one of the most successful studios today", I don't compare it to Rockstar or say Rare is in a hypothetical top 5 or top 10.
I mean that, at the moment, now, since 2015-2018, their 2 last releases are working extremely well (not all games hit such a big milestone of 15 million players (and it's still growing as it was 2 months ago) and have amazing legs).
They inspire confidence once again, the studio is the biggest it has ever been size-wise. They are back on track and their new IP is obviously among the most successful ones of this gen.
While they were a decade ago disliked/hated by their fanbase, hits by layoffs, without direction or soul, on the verge of irrelevancy and possibly even closure considering what happened to Lionhead (Fable was an iconic franchise for MS and MS bought them in 2006, so it was a major studio for them too. Yet MS closed the studio and they no longer exist. Who knows what would have happened if Rare didn't convince the leadership that they could be successful and relevant again in the industry).
That's what I wanted to emphasize.
I mean that, at the moment, now, since 2015-2018, their 2 last releases are working extremely well (not all games hit such a big milestone of 15 million players (and it's still growing as it was 2 months ago) and have amazing legs).
They inspire confidence once again, the studio is the biggest it has ever been size-wise. They are back on track and their new IP is obviously among the most successful ones of this gen.
While they were a decade ago disliked/hated by their fanbase, hits by layoffs, without direction or soul, on the verge of irrelevancy and possibly even closure considering what happened to Lionhead (Fable was an iconic franchise for MS and MS bought them in 2006, so it was a major studio for them too. Yet MS closed the studio and they no longer exist. Who knows what would have happened if Rare didn't convince the leadership that they could be successful and relevant again in the industry).
That's what I wanted to emphasize.
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It seems pretty revisionist to claim Microsoft's acquisition as anything other than a disaster for both themselves and Rare.
Credit should be given to both companies for their endurance to eventually salvage something in Sea of Thieves but it's pretty awful business for it to take 16 years to get something worthwhile out of an acquired studio while all their IP's which were huge at the time (Banjo, Perfect Dark, Conker) are effectively dead after failed attempts to reboot.
It was remarkable to watch one of the biggest and most respected studios in gaming driven to very brink of survival like that.
Credit should be given to both companies for their endurance to eventually salvage something in Sea of Thieves but it's pretty awful business for it to take 16 years to get something worthwhile out of an acquired studio while all their IP's which were huge at the time (Banjo, Perfect Dark, Conker) are effectively dead after failed attempts to reboot.
It was remarkable to watch one of the biggest and most respected studios in gaming driven to very brink of survival like that.
Pretending Conker is some huge IP when the game didn't even break a million copies is revisionist.
Rare is probably my favourite studio in the industry but people who went through fifth gen with only an N64 seem to have a bloated sense of how big and important they actually were to gaming as a whole in that era.
Yeah I would say the investment was a massive flop, they're on a little rebound now but have been for the most part a total disaster
I think Rare has been making perfect Game Pass games since MS bought them, it just took this long for the business model to catch up, N&B and Viva Pinata would have been huge in a world where they didn't have to charge $60 for them.
They're in a great position now, Everwild looks like a great evolution of the Sea of Thieves concept, I'd still love to see a Viva Pinata game from them next gen.
They're in a great position now, Everwild looks like a great evolution of the Sea of Thieves concept, I'd still love to see a Viva Pinata game from them next gen.
They were running on fumes from the moment MS bought them and did die, for all intents and purposes, when they got repurposed to work on Kinect crap.
This new studio that made Sea of Thieves and gave us a CG trailer of something that they aren't even fully sure of what it is but are calling it Everwild does not share a whole lot in common with the one that cranked out those N64 classics and kept that console afloat.
This new studio that made Sea of Thieves and gave us a CG trailer of something that they aren't even fully sure of what it is but are calling it Everwild does not share a whole lot in common with the one that cranked out those N64 classics and kept that console afloat.
Nintendo's cash/liquidity assets have always been very high, so I have never understood the move to sell Rare to MS in 2001.
4-5 Rare's franchises could still today perfectly fit Nintendo's 1st party portfolio creating an even more complete unique offering for the company.
Perfect Dark: perfect serie to remain 1st person shooter flagship title
Banjo: a great alternative to Mario as platformer, with its own twist.Nintendo userbase simply loves the genre
Killer Instinct: a more serious fighter perfectly fitting Smash Bros
Diddy Kong Racing: again, a genre loved by Nintendo user
+ other new ideas etc
I often feel the move to give the studio to MS deprived me of some good quality gaming in the last 20 years
4-5 Rare's franchises could still today perfectly fit Nintendo's 1st party portfolio creating an even more complete unique offering for the company.
Perfect Dark: perfect serie to remain 1st person shooter flagship title
Banjo: a great alternative to Mario as platformer, with its own twist.Nintendo userbase simply loves the genre
Killer Instinct: a more serious fighter perfectly fitting Smash Bros
Diddy Kong Racing: again, a genre loved by Nintendo user
+ other new ideas etc
I often feel the move to give the studio to MS deprived me of some good quality gaming in the last 20 years
I absolutely love Grabbed by the Ghoulies and think it's one of the most under rated games ever made. Every Halloween, we play the game as a family and it never gets old. Yes, Rare's Kinect Games were not for everybody, but they were some of the best Kinect-titles, but it just sucked that they were forced to work with the Kinect, a device that had a great potential, but the retail version was a dumb thing.
Outside of Kinect-games, I really feel Rare made some great stuff, from Kameo to Viva Pinata. And I understand that the founders are gone, but they still make cool games. Sea of Thieves is amazing, although I get bored quickly with it.
The best version of Grabbed by the Ghoulies is part of Rare Replay.
Outside of Kinect-games, I really feel Rare made some great stuff, from Kameo to Viva Pinata. And I understand that the founders are gone, but they still make cool games. Sea of Thieves is amazing, although I get bored quickly with it.
The best version of Grabbed by the Ghoulies is part of Rare Replay.
The buy was obviously a disaster and MS definitely lost money the years following. Rare is successful now (after an extremely long time) but it is essentially a completely new studio which doesn't need the name.
Yeah, it was "only" 49% but they didn't fully own the company at any point.
Fantastic thread, well done op really enjoyed this!
Still feel like its Nintendo´s biggest loss not to buy them when they had such a good relationship.
If rare was Nintendo first party they would have made the GC so much more amazing and appealing for folks who loved Rare on the N64.
Still feel like its Nintendo´s biggest loss not to buy them when they had such a good relationship.
If rare was Nintendo first party they would have made the GC so much more amazing and appealing for folks who loved Rare on the N64.
Maybe this has already been posted, but I thought it insightful: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-05-22-perfect-dark-the-oral-history-of-an-n64-classic
Just shows me how much i miss old Rare.
Couldnt care less about Sea of Thieves, just want them use their great IPs they have.
Also i wouldnt say someone is one of the most successful studios just because they finally stopped making Kinect games and made literally one other game again that does decent.
Couldnt care less about Sea of Thieves, just want them use their great IPs they have.
Also i wouldnt say someone is one of the most successful studios just because they finally stopped making Kinect games and made literally one other game again that does decent.
As a Nintendo fanboy, I was gutted when this happened. I remember the rumours, the Christmas card image, all of the drama. It was a sad time. I'm glad they still exist and are developing games. Also, the fact that it's a British studio is a +1 from me.
I broke out my NES and SNES with the family the other week and Snake Rattle and Roll on the NES was surprisingly quite liked by my fiance. It still holds up!
I think they've been fine, but at the sale they were still at the height of their powers imo and should have been put to better use. It's gradually gotten better over time but I imagine they leaked a fair bit of potential in the transition, it's taken time to get where we are. It's nice to see sea of thieves doing well, and everwild looks gorgeous even if we don't know an awful lot about it.. I've got a feeling they're going to be more important for MS going forward.
I think they've been fine, but at the sale they were still at the height of their powers imo and should have been put to better use. It's gradually gotten better over time but I imagine they leaked a fair bit of potential in the transition, it's taken time to get where we are. It's nice to see sea of thieves doing well, and everwild looks gorgeous even if we don't know an awful lot about it.. I've got a feeling they're going to be more important for MS going forward.
Evolving prototypes is perfectly in line with Rare's development practice of the 90s, actually. Banjo-Kazooie, Killer Instinct, Goldeneye, Diddy Kong Racing and Conker's Bad Fur Day all went through several widely different iterations before Rare decided on what the finished product would become.
Rare chose to work on Kinect themselves, btw.
Yep. To be fair, Conker was never given a proper chance on neither the N64 or the Xbox. ...but the fact remains that Conker was never a big hit. It only became a cult classic.
Killer Instinct and Rare Replay was the start. Battletoads was just the continuation. :) I hope Banjo-Kazooie is next.
Viva Pinata and Nuts and Bolts are great, they're two of my favourite games. They both felt different to anything else that gen, graphically and mechanically.
I loved PD back then. Some of the enemy reactions to being shot havent really become common in FPS, afaik, which is a shame.
I never really liked B&K1 at release but really enjoyed it on the 360.
I loved PD back then. Some of the enemy reactions to being shot havent really become common in FPS, afaik, which is a shame.
I never really liked B&K1 at release but really enjoyed it on the 360.
sea of thieves was not a success and at launch was pretty terrible.
Sea of Thieves is my game of the generation. I am very happy Rare has been able to make unique and cooperative games. Obviously it isn't the same team as in 1995. That's 25 years ago. I bet many of the 250 people working at Rare weren't even going to school when the studio was acquired by Microsoft.
It sold ~5 million copies and 15 million people played it. It's one of Microsoft's biggest gaming IP's.
It sold ~5 million copies and 15 million people played it. It's one of Microsoft's biggest gaming IP's.
LOL! in what metric? It's been a success on console, PC, and steam.
Ahh, those hundred thousand players on Steam will tell you otherwise.
And I am not talking about launch.
it is a great game. Period. ;)
But I guess there is no reasoning that would change your mind anyway
Honestly Sea of Thieves is one of the most empty, boring games I've ever played. Even with friends and all the latest content updates I think it's just a complete failure of game design, and I say that as someone who generally likes open world sandbox survival games with Rust being the peak of the genre in my opinion. Sadly, I don't trust Everwild to be anything more than another hollow game with a pretty coat of paint until proven otherwise.
It's a shame because their N64 output produced some of my favourite games of all time including Conker and Banjo, and I even enjoyed Kameo and Nuts and Bolts quite a bit. For me though they still have quite a bit of work to do to get back to their 2008 output, let alone where they were during the N64.
It's a shame because their N64 output produced some of my favourite games of all time including Conker and Banjo, and I even enjoyed Kameo and Nuts and Bolts quite a bit. For me though they still have quite a bit of work to do to get back to their 2008 output, let alone where they were during the N64.
I haven't been huge on Rare's output in recent years, but I must say I'm really looking forward to Everwild. It looks stunning. I also think they reallllly ought to make Banjo Kazooie 3, if not that, a Remaster of the first two. It's crazy that Microsoft haven't made better use of that incredible franchise.
At launch arguably yes, but now it is one of the most popular games ever.
Rare are about making new stuff. They keep making new stuff. They have always, always been like this. Contrast Rare Replay to... Blizzard, say. Dislike it all you want, but they are doing what Rare do, and SoT is very successful, especially in a generation where MS has had problems. Thus, yes, they are one of the most successful XGS, at least.
I enjoy Thieves, but unless most successful is limited to Microsoft studios releasing Microsoft games this generation, that whole bit is a touch inaccurate lol.
by what metric, just because MS says there is 15m players does not mean anything. If its 15m active players then yes but as far as I know its not. Also 1m steam sales and about the same on xbox (as a lot of people play it on gamepass) is not good for a game that was in development for 5+ years. this is not an indy title.