Rare to restructure. Redundancies possible.

[Ice Mario]

Originally Posted by www.rarewitchproject.com

It seems that not even companies under Microsoft's wing are safe from the dire situation we find the video games industry in. Rare's development team are under the microscope amidst a general restructuring of Microsoft owned game studios; a move which could lead to some redundancies at the Twycross developer. In a very familiar move, the company is trying newer ideas to speed up the development process. This means games that don't take years to make but have a higher chance of making money due to the quick and cheaper development cycle.

Mark Betteridge who is Rare's studio manager said, "As the entire industry struggles to address the increasing scale and cost of development, we too have felt a need to restructure our current approach so we can speed development and better manage the scale required to create high quality games,"

"With four projects recently underway, now is the right time to make this change. Throughout its history, Rare has demonstrated a willingness to embrace new approaches and commitment to delivering game-changing experiences to our customers."

"This announcement is no different and builds on that tradition as we work with MGS to make interactive entertainment as culturally relevant in people’s lives as books, movies and television are today," he added.

Rare isn't the first UK developer to feel the sting. Free Radical Design who were founded by former members of Rare were forced into taking a similar approach by developing quick and easy casual games. It was hoped it would help them out of the tough situation they found themselves in. It didn't.

One of the areas Rare intends to focus is adding to the Xbox Live experience. This could come in the form of Arcade titles similar to the much joked about Banjo-Kazooie Bash Buddies. With a quicker development cycle these games afford, this in turn means reduced manpower and Rare may be forced into the difficult situation of letting staff go.

"In order to achieve these goals, the company is reviewing the current composition of its development teams and there is the possibility that a small number of current positions could be lost as a result of these changes."

http://www.rarewitchproject.com/?id=1756

[Whyme123]

So they are going to fire a few people, or stream line the process of making games, so they can either make better games faster, or make bad games fast?

[Deebs]

Redundancies?

This can't be good.

[Pies]

Oh noes

As long as Rare don't end up making games like Carnival games.

[watkinzez]

Redundancy sucks, no matter how big.
My thoughts go to BIGsheep, Pinsey and everyone else at Rare. Hope you all make it through unscathed.

[Ice Lightning]

Well they have always got a backup plan if all else fails, a whole back catalogue of known to be some of the best games made to bring to the XBLA. It's just up to them if they want to live off past glories because once that runs out they're kinda screwed and might lose more credibility as a developer for just being a shadow of their former self and it'd be quite sad if the only way they could make money is by their old games.

Saying that I'd still pay anything for Perfect Dark done in the way Goldeneye XBLA was made, really really want that game And they've got a whole engine made for it already so it shouldn't be too difficult. Saying that the fact Goldeneye could never be released doesn't help in any of this actually, considering how much time they must have spent making that game for it to never be released.

[B-R-E-T]

How cheap are we talking here? Cheap games like Pong, or cheap games like Donkey Kong Country?

Personally I'd love to see them make some old school stuff for XBLA, with sleek modern graphics. I honestly can't say I'm disappointed, seeing how things have been going for them lately.

But yeah... the job cuts and stuff. That really sucks.

[Grimmjow]

DAMN! I hope it's not fault of the low sales of NaB

[pirulo]

Blame NaB for that

[Myriad]

Originally Posted by pirulo

Blame NaB for that

Blame Sony for that.They ruined Nintendo by paying companies to work on the PS instead of the godly N64/GC,so Ninty had to sell Rare to Microsoft which doesn't support Rare very well.And now you can see the final result.

[Tanjo]

Oh my god what a fanboyish statement. That was pathetic. Seriously, what was going through your mind when you made that post?

[TowerOfTragedy]

Originally Posted by pirulo

Blame NaB for that

^ This.

Originally Posted by Myriad

Blame Sony for that.They ruined Nintendo by paying companies to work on the PS instead of the godly N64/GC,so Ninty had to sell Rare to Microsoft which doesn't support Rare very well.And now you can see the final result.

^ This makes no sense whatsoever.

Originally Posted by Tanjo

Oh my god what a fanboyish statement. That was pathetic. Seriously, what was going through your mind when you made that post?

^ This.


I hope Rare shuts down. Blame it on NaB, traitors.

[Gold Jinjo]

Tanjo, I know. Almost seven years later, people still won't accept Nintendo dropped Rare like a bad habit

Actually, I think one of the reasons was because they took so long to make games.

[shadowbulba]

Originally Posted by PiesAreBlueGuy

Oh noes

As long as Rare don't end up making games like Carnival games.

Were talking about Rare though, I'm pretty sure Rare can't **** up with Carnival Games.

Anyway this is bad news but to be honest I doubt they'll let any staff go. "Thank you for making games now go **** yourself" just doesn't sound right. I would acctually love to see some Arcade games by Rare. Nothing stupid though.

[TowerOfTragedy]

Well yes, Rare definately takes their time developing a game.. 8 years to come up with NaB after 2 ditched idea's.. But most of the time the wait was worth it.


Was.