It's official, Rare is now a Micorsoft First Party developer
 

Yep, you read right, First Party. Here's the full story.

Numerous sources are confirming that Nintendo and long-time second party developer Rare are finally parting ways. This month's Star Fox Adventures is reported to be the last game from the company to see release on a Nintendo console.

Rare has yet to release a Gamecube game despite receiving some of the system's first development kits. Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa told Bloomberg today that losing the British developer would have "little impact for us," while Microsoft remained silent on the deal.

The split has been apparent for some time, with any mention of Rare projects outside SFA being completely absent for months, including at this past E3. With details of the deal still to be confirmed, a public announcement has been put on hold.

Though an accomplished developer since before the days of the NES, Rareware became stars with 1994's Donkey Kong Country. The Super Nintendo classic, one of the first games to completely feature prerendered graphics, represented what has become a trend for Nintendo - farming out franchises to outside talent.

Three years later, Rare took another dormant license and matched it with another classic game. James Bond returned in the 1997 blockbuster GoldenEye 007, which sold nearly 5 million copies in the U.S. alone and fully realized the idea of a complex first-person shooter on consoles.

But that was Rare's last smash. Despite being seen in the industry as a shining light of support for the Nintendo 64, critical acclaim would not translate into sales success for Rare's own franchises. The most notable examples were Conker's Bad Fur Day and the unofficial follow-up to GoldenEye, Perfect Dark.

The price for the Bond license increased exponentially after the success of GoldenEye, and the choice to not renew it led to the creation of Perfect Dark. The game was well-received by the press and sold nearly 600,000 copies, a healthy number for most games but a large disappointment in comparison.

Far more disappointing were the sales of Conker's Bad Fur Day, a raunchy and revolutionary platformer that began life as a cute Super Mario 64 clone and was in development for over four years. Conker the foul-mouthed squirrel was promoted heavily, including a close relationship with Playboy, but the high concept of cartoon debauchery failed at retail with a meager 200,000 copies sold.

Second parties have gradually become less a part of Nintendo's business plan as the company built relationships with powerhouses such as Capcom, Namco and Sega. These companies are working on Zelda, Starfox, and F-Zero games respectively.

With the return on Rare's games diminishing and development cycles steadily increasing in length, Nintendo turned down multiple chances to extend their 49% stake in Rare to full ownership over the past year. This led to rumors of a sale to Activision, and later the arrangement with Microsoft.

Nintendo owns the Banjo-Kazooie and Diddy Kong universes, which include Conker the squirrel, who quietly debuted as his originally cute self in Diddy Kong Racing in November of 1997.

The fate of confirmed Rare projects with Nintendo licenses, such as Donkey Kong Racing for the Gamecube, remains undetermined, as does the future of Rare-created content published by Nintendo such as Perfect Dark. The company's Game Boy Advance projects appear to be unaffected by the deal.

An official announcement is expected shortly, and Microsoft is set to debut Rare as a first-party developer at their X02 Europe event in Spain on the 24th of this month.

Source: Gameforms

...shouldnt this be in xbox forum? meh...

And the best part of this is that I dont care. :p I'm gonna buy an Xbox next year anyway...and without Nintendo supervising I have my doubts that their games will be as good as before.

Someone please move this to the Xbox forum when you get a chance.

T'was bound to happen. :unsure: Oh well. I hope I'll be getting an XBox, but i doubt that will happen anytime soon. :unsure:

:unsure:

I don't care what Nintendo says, this is a huge blow to them. Think about it.

10% of Nintendo's software profits came from Rare in 2001, a year when Rare didn't even release a game I believe. Take into account that conservative 40% of Nintendo's profits probably came from their Handhelds that year as Pokemon and the like were HUGE.

Now, that means that 17% of Nintendo's software profits from consoles came from one developer, in a year when they didn't release a game.

Wow.

which means its from people buying thier old games?

in which nintendo will still be getting the profits from thoes old games anyway. Correct?

Technically it's not official yet.

Though I have no doubt that it will soon be announced, there has been no official press release from any of the three parties involved stating the news to be fact.

Don't say it's official until then. In the mean-time the topic should probably be edited (or don't bother, I guess it's not that big of a deal. Just misleading...)

And no, this shouldn't be in just the Xbox forum, it should be in both. This is news that effects Nintendo and Xbox fans.

In 2002 I think Rare has only made up for 1.5% or so of Nintedo's software sales, but that wasn't my point.

If Rare hs that significant of an impact in 2001, a year that they didn't even release a game, how do you think that will translate once MS starts releasing their games on the XBox. If Rare makes up 17% of Nintendo's console software profits in a year that they didn't release a game, what do you think the revenue will be when they release new games on the XBox? Plus Nintendo has to fill that void of losing a consistent revenue generator on the software end, plus a developer that pushes their console into homes (which I think they will do quite nicely, but its still future profits that will be lost when they could have pulled ahead instead of evening out)

Strangler, I believe they released a game in early 2001 (9.5%), but they haven't released a game in 2002 (1.5%).

Though it may result in a loss of some income, looking on the larger scale of things, 3rd parties are giving even more support for the GC, which makes up for that loss, and then some. Sqaure is definately a plus, and then you have 2 'new' RE's coming out for the GC (RE0 & RE4)...

Nintendo have also acquired new first and second parties, so I guess it's not all bad for Nintendo, and they also gain alot of money from the deal, apprarently recieving three times the value of their shares, which could be used to secure other deals, such as the next DW/DQ game (that's just an example, it probably won't happen)...

Then again, one could say, sure, Nintendo could have had all this PLUS the support of Rare. Needless to say, the GC will be getting alot out of Star Fox Adventures.

what does Nintendo need more right now:

a) the amazing talent of Rareware?
or
b) the large sum of money they're getting out of this deal?


now, what does Microsoft need more right now:

a) the amazing talent of Rareware?
or
b) the large sum of money they're buying Rare for?


I'm pretty sure the answers to both questions are a), especially with Microsoft, but I can see how the first question could be arguable...especially for Nintendo fans

Excellent point Stu, at this point in such a young system I really think they could have used a great developer over a wad o' dough.

Rare is overrated anyway.I HATE them because they delay EVERY game about 5 times before it is released.The only good thing was Banjo-Tooie and the FPS games.

wouldnt that mean you hate nintendo too?



and i dont think nintendo needs rare at all. if they did they wouldnt sell them.

right, cause they're already dominating console hardware and software sales...

right?

:sneaky: