In 2008, The Escapist published an article on Activision's near-buyout of Rare which offered a sliver of insight into Rare we don't usually get. Yesterday Eurogamer plunged even deeper into the buyout history to try and find exactly where Rare has gone wrong these last few years.

The buyout happened in 2002, which was just under a year after Microsoft had launched its first Xbox console that would compete with the already-released PlayStation 2 and the up-and-coming Nintendo GameCube. Microsoft was new to the industry and, as the article points out, was new to handling video game developers. Rare's relationship with Nintendo was a very close and trusting one. The Microsoft-Rare relationship at first seemed just as good, if not better, but over time Microsoft's corporate culture took over the casual, competitive atmosphere that once dominated the Twycross developer.

The article gives an interesting look at the culture behind the scenes at Rare from the time Shigeru Miyamoto gifted the company a bonsai at the height of their relationship with Nintendo, to the present day developing avatars and Kinect Sports for Microsoft. It also serves up some nuggets of information previously unheard of, such as Disney's interest in buying Rare.

In the end it seems Rare's perceived decline simply has to do with the changing industry. As games get bigger and the budgets get bigger, studios simply aren't willing to take the risks they once did. But it hurts the most with Rare as even in their glory days they were never afraid to take those risks; their imagination and bravery seemed so embedded in the company's very DNA. They had built such a rich backdrop of intellectual property that could easily outmatch any other developer.

Even if those crazy ideas are a little more risky these days, the prospect of undoubtedly yet another Kinect Sports after Season Two continues to leave fans wondering where that spark went.