Is RARE a Big Waste of Money for Microsoft?

Jason Wong • May 28, 2009 • Comments (10)

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.

News
Games
Gear

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.

Comments

Nico

- May 28, 2009 6:59 AM

I don't think that Rare is a waste of money. I'm one of those who bought an Xbox 360 (or the first Xbox) BECAUSE Rare is now a MGS developper. They worked on avatars, some of their developpers helped Bungie on Halo 3 and they have a large fanbase which is ready to buy every game, theme, ou goodies with a golden "R" on it. And don't forget that Rare helped Microsoft a lot at Xbox 360 Launch with Perfect Dark even if the game was average.

dogdirt2000

- May 28, 2009 7:45 AM

Although Microsoft may have not made a financial return from buying Rare, I am still glad to have Rare and its games around.

I whole-heartidly enjoy the Viva Pinata series, and also found Kameo a refreshing new rpg-er type experience. Many hours of my life have been spent playing Rare games on the 360, and i'm happy to do so.

Keep at it Rare :)

Greyfox

- May 28, 2009 8:12 AM

Seriously who posted this article? :S

I definitely agree that Rare isn't producing amazing titles at the moment.

But Rare definitely was a great developer back in the days, when they worked for Nintendo.

And as for not having great original gameplay. You clearly didn't play a lot of donkey kong titles or killer instinct for that matter. Otherwise you would know that those games contain some of the most enjoyable gameplayelements for that time.

I agree that Rare isnt producing any groundbreaking titles at the moment. But that doesn't mean that they didn't make great nintendo titles.

Anonymous

- May 28, 2009 8:25 AM

Rare made the mistake of selling to microsoft!!! they started sucking something major once microsoft was at the reigns of their game development

Spriggers

- May 28, 2009 11:52 AM

First commenter. You just confirmed to me that it was a waste. You don't spend .375 billion dollars on a dev team that helped out here and there for highly criticized avatars, and average PD game, with the best games based off a kids TV show. (Who knows how much less it would have sold if they didn't have Viva Pinata on kids TV). I think their best is yet to come, but as of now, it's not even close to being worth .375 billion dollars.

Farzan

- May 28, 2009 12:34 PM

Rare is not a waste of money. I don't know why people continue to bash them just for making games that are alittle more aimed towards the younger audience. I think Microsoft buying Rare was the smartest thing from last gen. Not only does Microsoft have a developer thats open to doing more creative and different games, but they also have a developer that carries a boat load of IPS with them such as the Banjo series, Perfect Dark series, etc. Not only that, but Rare is a huge developer with many different teams that are capable of doing separate projects at once. I have bought every Rare game for my Xbox 360 and I always tend to enjoy them. Sure they aren't perfect games, but their are few games today that are. I cant wait to see what they have cooking next. Hopefully its another Perfect Dark or the long rumored Killer Instinct 3.

Matt Bradford

- May 28, 2009 4:09 PM

Yeah - I have to disagree with the Peter Pan syndrome because many of their current gen games have matured to fit the tastes of guys like me who played Donkey Kong on SNES in junior high and still get a kick out what they do now. They are not, by any means, kiddie titles. They may look shiny, colorful and 'cartoony', but Rare's gameplay is always unique, always fine tuned and always about the core things that make gaming fun. As gamers, we can't complain that nothing new is being done and then disregard a company like Rare.
Case in point: Banjo Kazooie: Nuts N Bolts - an insanely original game that was a huge departure for the franchise and was one of the most polished platformers of last year. It tried something new, offered a good challenge, made fun of its collect-a-thon days and offered a much needed respite for the generic 'bad-ass space marine' of the week AAA title. It wasn't marketed well, but that is Microsoft's doing. Same goes for the Viva Pinata series - a very deep game that hooked onto the fundamental 'fun' parts of gaming and delivered.
Rare suffers from lack of support. I guarantee you if it had received as much coverage and emphasis as Gears of War then we'd be talking about it now as a huge achievement instead of a misstep.

Topmmy

- May 28, 2009 5:59 PM

Probably the reason why Rare isn't how it was is because Nintendo would work with them.

Meaning that if Rare asked for help or something,Nintendo would deliver.

chuckyj360

- May 28, 2009 9:53 PM

Here is the problem... Rare is trying to change their franchises.

Look at nuts and bolts... They make a Bango-Kazooie platformer... it is a million plus seller. instead they create a game where its more around building your own machine... and it gets good reviews but sells like crap. Because thats not the Banjo everyone knows.

name

- May 29, 2009 4:02 AM

meh wouldent be the first.
M$ dispose of checks like there toilet paper, like 50M for 2 timed DLC episodes for GTAIV.
and god knows how much they paid for the bug ridden fallout 3 DLC wich is now comming to the ps3 also.

Xboxist

The GameFlavor Network