690°

Rare Is A Bust

In 2002, Microsoft paid $375 million to buy developer Rare the makers of the insanely popular N64 hits GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, and Banjo-Kazooie to name a few. The acquisition was a major blow to Nintendo at the time, and many analysts believed the move to be a very smart move for Microsoft.
Now six years and $375 million later Rare has still failed to produce results. In the three years that Rare has been developing games for the Xbox 360 Rare has only managed to generated just over $66 million combined domestically over those three years, according to the NPD Group.
The_Zeitgeist - contributor
Published: 301 days ago | Article | Xbox 360 | Gaming | Dev News
 
 

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thebudgetgamer - 301 days 1 hour ago
1 - its only rare in name
not to knock but its most of the people if not all the people that made rare a giant in gaming are long gone. thats not to say their games have been bad. just like atari. same name but not the same company

:)
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Smileys - 301 days 1 hour ago
1.1 -
I agree. After Tim and Chris Stamper left I knew Rare wasn't going to be the same.
They still make good games but nothing truly epic.
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The_Zeitgeist - 301 days ago
1.2 -
I miss golden eye.
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thebudgetgamer - 301 days ago
1.3 -
me too
those were good times
i miss rc pro-am the most. i love that game

:)
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Action Bastard - 301 days ago
1.4 -
Look at the bright side, they still have KI3 and BattleToads to ruin. Wait, is that a bright side?
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ape007 - 301 days ago
1.5 - yes rare
is not even a shadow of its former self

just remember perfect dark 64(best game ever imo) and goldeneye 007 on n64 and just see pdz,what a disappointment

if the same old rare team stayed with ms,360 will be hands down the best system in this gen

just imagine the goldeneye team get their hands on 360

faints
1.6 thats_just_prime | 300 days 23 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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FarEastOrient - 300 days 23 hours ago
1.7 -
@Thats Just Prime

You have to look at it in a financial frame of mind, as a shareholder in Sony, Microsoft, Square Enix, etc... You have to look at the return on investment (ROI) of the property in this case Rare whom last years only dropped the NXE and Nuts and Bolts. Now a company that is bought and run properly should be able to pay back the cost of purchase back in two years or less, if it takes three years or more you are in trouble.

Even if estimated at $100 million dollars like you said over three years, you haven't negated the effect of development cost. With just Nuts and Bolts along with Perfect Dark you have brought the potential profit to $48.7 million out of the $66 million in revenue. You further negate the cost of marketing and the potential profit drops even further. Did Microsoft make money off of Rare products, Yes they did, yet at the rate of profit versus revenue it will take 6 years to pay off the cost of buying Rare and even longer if calculating the number of big title projects like Killer Instinct and a new Perfect Dark.

Yes I will vote to in no confidence of Wada
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eagle21 - 300 days 23 hours ago
1.8 - joystiq reported NPD only 140k Banjos sold since launch through Dec. 08...
Talk about a bust... :)
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Freak of Nature - 300 days 22 hours ago
1.9 - Get out of the hole with PD,KI,and CONKER...
Rare are still in the game,so as of now they are not a bust.They have 4 games in the pipe line so the deficit will be cut more when these do come out.They have not shown the same magic,but times do change,staff change,and sometimes people with talent for games of yesterday do not have the same skills for todays systems...

For me I would want to see platformers from rare,without rare giving them to us,I dont see X360 owners getting any higher level platformers. We get fighetrs and shooters elsewhere,so platformers from rare would be my choice.However.....

It's also about profit,and in Rares case I would think that bringing the next perfect dark,a 1st person shooter and Killer instinct a fighter would give them that profit share they need to attain.

They probably should go with PD,KI,and a platformer/action adventure game like Conker,a nice mix, a trio of sure sellers........Kameo done from the ground up on the X360 also would be a decent to good seller....Perhaps bring in a new IP,or a HD next gen JFG...
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Cheeseknight28 - 300 days 21 hours ago
1.10 - @1.9
4 projects:
Perfect Dark 2
Killer Instinct 3
Jet Force Gemini 2
Conkers Good Fur Day (Or something)

Rare would be kings again. Sure it's nice to see them try and be different (Kameo, VP, and Banjo N&B) but I would much rather they stay alive and be different later on down the road then go bankrupt and never make PD2 or Conker 2.
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Obama - 300 days 20 hours ago
1.11 - @ape007
The old talents formed Free Radical, the one that made Haze which is not so good.
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njr - 300 days 18 hours ago
1.12 -
If I remember correctly the top men involved in rare left as soon as they were sold. MS got shafted in talent, so all they bought were IPs.
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lsujester - 300 days 18 hours ago
1.13 -
~Obama~

But they also made TimeSplitters, which was oh so good.

Haze, to me, felt unfinished. It felt like a game still in beta that never got the extra few months of polish and tweaking at the end. It had some good ideas, but those were overshadowed by the "at best mediocrity". It just felt like a game that could have been great if properly developed and fleshed out.

But alas, Free Radical has been bought by Crytek, and many, including Steve Ellis, are gone.
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Marquis_de_Sade - 300 days 12 hours ago
1.14 -
I actually enjoyed PDZ, it gave me a false hope of what else to expect from the 360. Online lag free 32 player with 2 player online Co-op and genuinely fun gameplay. The fact that a launch game still allows for the second largest number of players online (frontline being the most I think) is ridiculous.
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prowiew - 300 days 10 hours ago
1.15 -
I compare rare with sega. Only difference is I love viva pinata
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AAACE5 - 300 days 8 hours ago
1.16 - This reminds me...
I used to crack a joke about Rare's name during the N64 days.

I always said, "It's Rare for them to get a game out in a timely manner!" Now, "It's Rare they can get a truely great game out!"

I hope this restructuring can fix their problems so they can create great games again. I believe that Rare is a victim of what happens to alot of developers, and that is that the teams they have lack an overall interest in creating great games...a.k.a. alot of their creativity and vision was lost somewhere along the way!

@omodis420... Untrue! Rare games were about the same quality on the gamecube. Their games started to take a turn for the worst right after the N64.
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Montrealien - 300 days 6 hours ago
1.17 -
It must be noted that Rare has released 19 games since being purchased by MS. Granted the top tier titles have not faired well in sales, they where well recieved and where good quality games. They have been working a lot and have released more games in 6 years then Guerilla, Bungie, Naughty Dog and insomniac combined.

A resrtucturing should be at hand, but dead, they are not.
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Gambit07 - 300 days 1 hour ago
1.18 -
I rather have quality then quantity.
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Montrealien - 300 days ago
1.19 - ^^^^
I agree, but they have quantity and quality. Sadly people are skipping on their major titles. Viva Pinata 2 and Banjo Nuts and bolts are two quality games. At great prices that got lost in the frey.
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omodis420 - 301 days ago
2 -
Thats funny Rare was good until Microsoft got a hold of them. Microsoft = suppressors of creativity.
2.1 La Chance | 301 days ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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Party Boy - 301 days ago
2.2 -
One word... Flower. 89 metacritic rating and higher than any of those Rare flops.
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CrazzyMan - 301 days ago
2.3 -
La Chance, Try Flower, for starters.

Then investigate more about PS3 games and you will find, what you are looking for. :)
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Cajun Chicken - 301 days ago
2.4 -
Echochrome. Even has a level editor.
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rhood022 - 301 days ago
2.5 -
Or Flow.
Or any of the Pixel Junk games
Or Everyday Shooter
Or Folklore
Or Echochrome
Or The Last Guy
Or Nobi Nobi Boy
Or EyePet
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rucky - 301 days ago
2.6 -
Oh let's not forget those Eyetoy games guys :)
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Peekay - 301 days ago
2.7 - La Chance -
pretty much 90% of Sony's PSN catalogue. Then there's folklore - a extremely creative and under rated game...
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Mindboggle - 301 days ago
2.8 - @ La Chance
The fact that LBP is Sony only real creative game isnt really the point. You can add ratchet and clank, pixeljunk games, flow, flower and other psn games to games similar to what rare create, but your missing the point.

The fact is Rares games just arnt selling that well, lbp has sold over 2 million, and banjo has barely sold 500,000. Viva Pinata 1 was a big seller but 2 was a flop. Its just due to the fact the average 360 crowd doesnt appreciate them. Plus this doesnt take in to account their last games havent actually been that good.

They need to go back to nintendo again. They would sell much more games.
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Max Power - 301 days ago
2.9 - i think Warhawk...
took an old flyer game, and made it into a TPS/Flight combat online multiplayer. how many games allow you to Fly a plane, land, get out and run around shooting killing people.
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Action Bastard - 301 days ago
2.10 -
Don't forget PDZ! Kameo was not that good, not even slightly. Beat it and was disappointed. Viva Pinata I've heard good things about, but being an adult male, I have no interest in Pinatas or gardens. Since we have to stretch back to Xbox1, Grabbed by the Ghoulies was garbage. It had potential, but the gameplay mechanics just flat out weren't fun. Conker's Bad Fur Day is hands down better than the Xbox Conker. Why? It fit for its time of release. The Xbox version felt dated. Pretty graphics and all.

As far as your PS3 insecurity: Flower, PJ Eden, Nobi Nobi Boy (tomorrow), R2 and it's take on co-op, Warhawk, Everyday Shooter, MotorStorm Pacific Rift is pretty creative with it's varying vehicles, locations, photo mode and Folklore screamed creativity. I'd go on but you get the idea. By all means though, keep praising mediocrity,.
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Ratchet_Co - 301 days ago
2.11 -
Well since you wanted to bring it up, I will reply with this.

Sony has a lot of creative games that are out and are coming out. Flower, Fat Princess, Little Big Planet, Warhawk, Home (just to mention a few). See, Sony would have had more creative games they had last gen as well, but Microsoft bought them.

Microsoft = supressors of creativity FTW

:)
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Cajun Chicken - 301 days ago
2.12 -
Jeez, I forgot how classic most of the PSN titles are. I was just put to shame by people listing under me mentioning Echochrome.
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Dark General - 301 days ago
2.13 -
Creative? Alot of the PSN games like Flower, Echochrome, Pixeljunk Eden, Flow and some others are pretty creative. Folklore and Afrika as well which are both pretty under rated because they are a bit unusual. And let me not forget Valkyrie Chronicles. Both console have some creative games though. Viva Pinata is under rated.
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callahan09 - 300 days 23 hours ago
2.14 -
Don't forget about Eye of Judgment. I know it's a niche title, but holy crap that game is awesome. If you like collectible card games, it's absolutely brilliant. The net code is wonderful (always a good connection online), the way they programmed it (implementing the camera and the card interaction into the software) is very impressive to me, the presentation is perfect, the cards are beautiful and interesting, with a huge variety, the graphics and animations are really nice, and watching your card games come to life on your TV in front of your very eyes is beautiful, and it's not just a gimmick, because the camera-based gameplay allows you to play anyone in the world! So if you don't know many people (or any people) who are into the game, you can always play an opponent online! That's unique, and it's creative, and it's quite frankly AWESOME. I'm a magic the gathering fan from back in the day, but had to stop playing because eventually everyone I knew moved on and wasn't playing it anymore, and I couldn't find any opponents. With the Eye of Judgment, there's always an opponent just a quick internet connection away. I love that game.
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rhood022 - 300 days 20 hours ago
2.15 -
Damn La Chance, obviously you can't read either.

Folklore and Eye of Judgment are both disk based games. As is Valkyria Chronicles.

And as far as the rest being PSN games, I'd rather pay upwards of $15 for fun, creative titles than pay $60 for crap that TRIES to be creative.

But it's always quantity over quality with you guys, isn't it?
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The Lazy One - 300 days 19 hours ago
2.16 - what?
how are folklore and eye of judgement that creative?

One is an action adventure RPG and one is a trading card game that displays on screen. And every day shooter? It's a great game no doubt, but it's a shmup

I'd give you almost everything from pixeljunk, because those are great games, Eyepet I'd probably give you unless they mess it up, as I've only seen the promo trailer.

if you're including arcade/non-disc based games, I'd probably say braid, wik fable of souls, or most of the decent xbl community games.

Both consoles aren't really short of creativity when it comes to arcade sized games.
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Marquis_de_Sade - 300 days 12 hours ago
2.17 -
While I disagree that Microsoft are "suppressors of creativity", you seriously can't think the 360 has more creative games than the PS3 can you? flOwer, flOw, echochrome and many more are far superior to most of those RARE games you mentioned.
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The Lazy One - 300 days 7 hours ago
2.18 - @above...
and many rare games are more creative than resistance, killzone, god of war, and heavenly sword.

Both systems have creative games. Especially when you include the titles from either system's arcade style content.
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Gambit07 - 300 days 1 hour ago
2.19 -
@callahan09: Man, you're making me want to bust out the EoJ.
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swiftshot93 - 301 days ago
3 - I agree, but still
Donkey Kong 64 FTW
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Hellangelzx - 301 days ago
3.1 -
I LOVED That game!
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Kigmal - 300 days 22 hours ago
3.2 -
Donkey Kong Country was a better series IMO.
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Dark General - 301 days ago
4 -
Donkey Kong, the most under rated series of games Nintendo ever created. It's a shame to see Rare not produce something like DK: Country in a long while.
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bigjclassic - 301 days ago
4.1 - Not really
there are more DK games than Star Fox games.
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Dark General - 300 days 23 hours ago
4.2 -
Yeah but most of those DK games are like Bongo Blast or something. They have more or less abandoned DK after the N64 games. It's a shame because i actually enjoyed DK as much as i enjoyed Sonic as a kid.
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Bathyj - 301 days ago
5 -
M$ does to developers what my internal organs do to food.

But hey its not the end of the world, its M$'s Entertainment and Devices division, an anomality in the business world. It doesn't have to make money to continue its existence.
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Death - 300 days 23 hours ago
5.1 - If this were true,
Microsoft would not have let Bungie go. Instead of retaining a name and an empty building they did as much as posible to maintain a working relationship.

-Death
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GiantEnemyCrab - 301 days ago
6 -
I really enjoyed Kameo, a very underrated title.
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Elven6 - 301 days ago
7 -
...uh no! Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power both sold over 1 million units at the original price point, then they went platinum and is assumed to have sold more. I think the number mentioned in that "article" is a bit off.

Viva Pinata sold over a million as well albeit at reduced price. Didn't Banjo also sell 200k in the US? I don't think I will go as far as saying the "debt" was completely paid off, but at least 75% has been.
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