Rare Going Multiplatform, Final!

[gekko]

From Senor Matt:

Uh-oh.

Just a little news. I am absolutely certain that Rare is going multiplatform now. The developer will make its own announcement in this regard. I'm not sure when.

Everyone still holding out, still doubting -- prepare to be wrong.

Matt

I know Rare is going multiplatform. This is something I *know* is happening. Not something I've heard. Not a rumor. A fact. I'm sorry, but I can't reveal how I know just yet.

As to why, though, I'm not sure. But I have some good ideas.

My speculation on the subject is this: It was a Nintendo decision. Or perhaps it was a mutual decision. Whichever, Nintendo definitely influenced it. Nintendo is first and foremost a business. It is a company that in the past has not been hesitant to sever business ties if they have not proven beneficial.

Rare is a slow-moving development studio. Its last N64 projects garnered disappointing sales, especially Conker's Bad Fur Day -- a game in the works for several years. Meanwhile, it has yet to release a GameCube title, and it was one of the very first studios to receive GCN development hardware.

In short, Nintendo has to be losing money on these guys, and the giant has to be frustrated.

So a new Nintendo strategy develops. No longer looking to the second-party model, Nintendo throws projects to its first-party USA house NST, buys Retro (in practice making the company first-party), and shifts focus again. Now it's dishing out its big-name licenses to interested third-party developers -- Namco, Sega, Capcom (and more to come). It's a win-win situation really. These third-parties get lucrative licenses to work with, nearly guaranteeing them massive sales, and Nintendo gets quality products from some of the best developers in the world.

With these extra Nintendo-branded games coming in from third-parties, Rare may not be as integral to the future success of GameCube as it once seemed. Rare, meanwhile, clearly wants more freedom. Rumors of the Stamper Bros. wanting to retire could be true. And Microsoft and Activision have been doing their best to entice the company over to Xbox and PS2 development respectively.

And so it happens.

Matt