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Rare Buy-Out Imminent
Earlier this week, a report surfaced on Computer and Video Games suggesting that a Rare buy-out might be imminent. According to the magazine's British sources, Activision was looking at acquiring the UK developer but simply could not afford the high price. Instead, the insiders alleged that Rare will be taken over by Microsoft for a price of £350 million.
CVG speculates that the official announcement will be made at Microsoft's X02 event in Seville later this month, which is said to focus on software. It also hints at the next game in the Perfect Dark series heading exclusively to the Microsoft Xbox.
One respected source, who wishes to remain anonymous, has confirmed to Raretopia that Rare is indeed to be bought by Microsoft and estimated the value of the company to be around £250 million. Allegedly, the deal has already been signed and the only thing that could stop it is if Nintendo takes up its option to buy Rare at the offered price instead of Microsoft. However, this seems very unlikely as it could have bought Rare years ago for a lower price but declined. Moreover, we were informed that a full buy-out of Rare will take place, meaning that all of its shares are to be sold to Microsoft.
The Rare-developed Star Fox Adventures will be released by Nintendo later this month exclusively for the GameCube, and it looks to be the last Rare game to grace the console before the company moves on to the Xbox. It is uncertain whether Rare will still bring out its GBA games, but chances are it will keep making games for the handheld as it still has a dedicated GBA team.
Microsoft to buy Rare?
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