Xboxist

Is RARE a Big Waste of Money for Microsoft?

After paying $375 million in cash for the developer, has buying Rare ended up being nothing but a big waste of money for Microsoft? It doesn't take a genius to answer that one. But the real question is why hasn't their success on Nintendo transferred over to Microsoft? What happened exactly to the once dependable hit-maker?

In the years that Microsoft acquired Rare, the studio has produced an endless stream of misses with kiddified blah blah titles like Grab by The Ghoulies, Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, and Conker's Bad Fur Day, with the only notable exception being the critical darling but financial bomb Viva Pinata series. Sadly, there hasn't been a clearly successful brand in the Rare stables. Did Microsoft make the ultimate goof buying out Rare from Nintendo? If so, what brought them to this dire state?

It's hard to admit but Rare suffers from a serious case of Peter Pan syndrome by refusing to mature beyond their Nintendo roots and refusing to adapt their games for an Xbox audience. For example, to this day their game characters refuse to learn real languages aside from the gibberish speak that proliferates their games from past to present. Can they expect audiences spoiled on HD graphics be satisfied with low level production? Failing to learn nuances like these have become a hindrance against Rare reaching and appealing to the Xbox audience.

It's arguable that the Xbox brand just isn't a kid-centric platform. As much as Microsoft would like to add kids to its core demographic, the truth of the matter is Xbox appeals to teenagers and adult males. Nintendo has had the kiddie market cornered for decades and won't be relinquishing that crown any time soon, even after losing Rare as a developer.

Rare succeeded during their Nintendo days not so much because of their unique and compelling take on games -- go back and look at the Donkey Kong collet-a-thon gameplay if you have any remaining doubts -- the magic spark was in releasing aptly marketed cartoony games to kid gamers, which made up the bulk of Nintendo's demographic -- a match made in heaven. Ultimately, Rare succeeded because of Nintendo, not vice versa -- a realization which would foreshadow what was to come.

In 2004 Microsoft's Ken Lobb denied rumors that Rare would develop games for their competitor, Nintendo. When Rare failed to produce the rich revenues that motivated Microsoft's initial buyout investment, it seemed like desperate times called for desperate measures. It was inevitable that Rare would have to once again return to suckle at the teat of the Nintendo money cow. In 2007, Diddy Kong Racing DS was released on the Nintendo DS and has sold 1.04 million copies worldwide, as of July 25, 2007.

To give Rare their due credit, they did attempt a more mature angle in their games with Perfect Dark Zero, but many critics were quick to point out the weak gameplay mechanics, cartoony graphics, and bad level designs. Perhaps the experience left them gun-shy, but Rare should have put their heads down and learnt from their mistakes. They should have continued in this direction but hire the right staffers to bring aboard the level of experience and maturity needed to develop triple A titles that would appeal to a grown-up Xbox audience, rather than retreat to the safety of cranking out kiddie titles on a system where the audience is just not there.

If Rare wants to succeed on Xbox, the type of games they need to develop requires a big overhaul. Their post-Nintendo market strategy needs to be to redesigned to target the Xbox demographic. The market is just not there on the Xbox for the types of kiddie games Rare wants to continue and seems stuck on developing. Rare must evolve to become relevant on their current platform.