Microsoft Acquisition of Rare
From RWP Wiki
| Rare Ltd. | |
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| Founded | 1982 by Chris and Tim Stamper |
| CEO | |
| President | |
| Employees | |
| Website | rare.co.uk |
The acquisition of Twycross developer Rare by Microsoft was announced on September 26, 2002 at X02 Europe.
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Potential Buyers
Nintendo
As of 2002, Nintendo had owned 49% of Rare, with Tim and Chris Stamper owning the remaining 51%. Nintendo had the option of purchasing the remaining shares in Rare but delayed too long, allowing other potential buyers to pursue interest. Microsoft and Activision both offered bids so high, Nintendo was effectively put out of the negotiations.
Activision
Microsoft offered more money to Rare, but under Activision Rare would no longer have been exclusive. Under Nintendo, Rare was a "second party" developer (subsidiary). This meant they were not entirely owned, but not entirely independent. Under Microsoft, Rare became entirely owned and operated by their new parent company. As part of Activision, Rare would have seen the freedom to develop games for all three major consoles at the time, potentially also including PC.
The Microsoft Deal
Microsoft purchased Rare for $375 million, also bringing over all of Rare's intellectual property. Donkey Kong and all original characters and concepts created by Rare for the franchise remained with Nintendo. Nintendo also kept partial rights to GoldenEye.
When the buyout was announced at X02, it was followed by a trailer showing iconic Rare characters including Joanna Dark, Kameo, Banjo, and Conker. At the end of the pre-rendered sequence, Conker takes a chainsaw to the word "XBOX" written in green letters, changing it to the word "rare."
Included in the new Microsoft deal was that Rare were to release five new games in the following two years, including Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo, both of which had previously been announced for GameCube. However, both Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo would not see a release until Microsoft's second generation console three years later.
Rare's first Xbox release was Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Q4 2003, which had also previously been in development for GameCube. Following was Conker: Live & Reloaded two years later in June 2005. Only these two games were released across a three year period, falling short of the five-game deal.
Current
Rare's position under Microsoft has become more that of an R&D division. While not officially Rare's purpose, it can be observed in their developments beginning in 2008: from being in charge of avatars since before their introduction alongside NXE, to leading Microsoft's Kinect development with Kinect Sports.
