Microsoft buying Rare - your views

[MankeyMan]

3 days ago Nintendo released a statement saying that it has sold its 49% stake in Rare, back to Rare. There have been rumours going round for months that the owners of Rare (the stamper brothers), were looking to sell their 51% share. Nintendo declined their offer, and the stampers have sold their shares to an anonymous source, most likely microsoft.

http://www.teletext.co.uk/digitiser/stateofplay.asp

What I am wondering, is whether you think this has been a good step by Nintendo, Rare or Microsoft, and how it'll affect the industry in general.

Do you think the gamecube has lost one of the most highly rated develeopers in the world, and is doomed to failure and that Microsoft has made an aquisition that will save the Xbox?
Or maybe by the time Rare actually finish a game Microsoft will be dead anyway.
Personally, I just think it will be weird playing a Rare game on a non-nintendo console, and I was really looking forward to seeing the new Perfect Dark, which now looks like it is going to appear on the Xbox.

[Raedon]

wow, if Microsoft had Rare as an exclusive producer I would be all about the Xbox..

Rare is Nintendo's bread and butter.. if this is true and Rare stops making games for Nintendo then they are done as a console maker.

Rare is the only thing that made the N64 worth collecting for and owning..

Looks like Nintendo is about to go the way of Sega.. which isn't such a bad thing.. It's all about the games.. All these Consoles, while great for us collecters, is horrible for consumers..

[buttasuperb]

i dont think losing rare hurts nintendo that much at all. they make a bunch of money off the deal, and rare makes 1 game a year anyways. sure they make some good games, but i think they're overrated.

[NvrMore]

I don't think it's a big deal personally, especially not for Nintendo. Rare haven't been quite "on form" lately, and from what I've heard they've lost a lot of their key staff.

Sure they've made some great games, but I have noticed a certain decline from them lately. I used to be a major fan of theirs and was quite eager to play anything they produced.. but they just haven't been upto what they were.

Chances are they will still produce some great games, but I do wonder if they're heading the way of Bullfrog or Sensible Software.

As for Nintendo, I doubt very much they're as bothered as they might have been two or three years ago. They've managed to pull in Sega, and I have to wonder if Nintendo have intentions of throwing a bit of that hefty chunk of cash from this deal into Sega to aid them with GC development. After all, they've a long history of being rivals but Nintendo are all too aware of how good Sega are a producing quality titles.

[rbudrick]

Also, N is working with Square again, so mayeb it will counterbalance the loss of Rare... Besides...Rare could theoretically still make games for N systems...just cuz N doesn't own them anymore doesn't mean they can't....unless, of course, MS is the owner now....

-Rob

[Captain Wrong]

I think people tend to overestimate the importaince of Square. a lot more people don't play RPGs than do. Rare on the other hand had games that tended to play to a broader audience.

Considering Rare was responsible for many of the biggest selling and most popular N64 games, I don't see how this can be anything but hurtful to Nintendo. I'm sure they'll pull through, but it will be one less reason to buy a GC for many people.

[theaveng]

Due to lack of sleep, when my blurry eyes first looked upon this subject I thought it said:

"Microsoft buyers beware"

;-)

[Arrrhalomynn]

It all depends on how much money they got for it of course. If nintendo got a huge amount of money for it, then they can use that money to develop more games themselves. And the profit of those games won't have to be shared with rare. Nintendo seems to be going quite well with the gamecube without any Rare games. Holding a large share in a game company that doesn't add anything to the succes of the consoles seems like a big waste to me.

Not that it matters to me. I don't care about Rare's games and don't own an XBOX or Gamecube.

[geelw]

i say GREAT- although 375 MILLION bucks? yeesh. oh well, maybe rare will get the hell away from the mostly kiddy crap they were shoehorned into making for nintendo and give us a new battletoads game (or a poly-based update of the arcade game- anyone remember that one?). then again, kameo looks like the same old stuff, just with xbox graphics. we shall see though...

(yeah, yeah, they did goldeneye & perfect dark, but one, that was ages ago for the first game, and the second game was way too ambitions for the n64- goddamn blurry graphics gave me a headache after 20 minutes! i say let nintendo have the series- maybe they'll get free radical to do a gamecube perfect dark {which would be funny, as some ex-rare staff work there} to go with the timesplitters 2 coming out soon, lol...)

[geelw]

me no am can spell- i meant AMBITIOUS, lol...=^P

[Nature Boy]

Rare is Nintendo's bread and butter.. if this is true and Rare stops making games for Nintendo then they are done as a console maker.

Three simple words: Game Boy Advance.



All these Consoles, while great for us collecters, is horrible for consumers..

I couldn't disagree more. We owe the recent and future price drops to those consoles. The more they have to fight for our purchasing dollars the better off we are. Not only from a price standpoint, but from a quality standpoint too. The pressure is on them and we reap the rewards. The only horrible thing is having to choose amongst the three if you're not lucky enough to have all three.



I think people tend to overestimate the importaince of Square. a lot more people don't play RPGs than do.


Maybe so. But Square games are undeniably system sellers (FF VII) and sell an *awful* lot of copies. RPG fans are a rabid and faithful bunch.



Rare is the only thing that made the N64 worth collecting for and owning.

Can't really argue that one (except that Nintendo's own stuff is pretty damn good too). I've definitely got a *lot* of N64 games with the Rare logo on it...


I'll definitely miss Rare as a Nintendo exclusive (and it does pain me a bit to see them jump into bed with Bill). But I'll continue to be a fan of their stuff and support it.

I'm also curious as to which games NvrMore thought were not 'on form' as it were.

[Raedon]

Three simple words: Game Boy Advance..

Good point, though I think you'll see Sony or MS push into that territory (Sony PortableStation 2?) Sony already made a bit of a testing market for such a device with the PSOne and LCD. when they see they can make a few extra million by not constantly releasing ports of old games everyone has already played.




I couldn't disagree more. We owe the recent and future price drops to those consoles. The more they have to fight for our purchasing dollars the better off we are. Not only from a price standpoint, but from a quality standpoint too. The pressure is on them and we reap the rewards. The only horrible thing is having to choose amongst the three if you're not lucky enough to have all three..

I don't see this argument.. The competition hasn't lowered the Xbox game prices or helped get better games. All it's doing is confusing consumers who don't know what console to buy. It's sort of like the reform party back in the early 90's. People voted for Perot and Bush and Clinton got into office when Buch really should have won. Now you have 3 consoles and people are split between them, so most are going for the safe bet, the PS2. And I don't blame them, it's the least tech. savvy but it has $20.00 games and an A list of future titles.

[Nature Boy]

Good point, though I think you'll see Sony or MS push into that territory (Sony PortableStation 2?) Sony already made a bit of a testing market for such a device with the PSOne and LCD. when they see they can make a few extra million by not constantly releasing ports of old games everyone has already played.

Until they do Nintendo has a veritable cash cow on their hands. Are there not more GBAs sold worldwide than PS2s? And even when they do, they have to topple Nintendo. Yes it's been done before, but I'm guessing Nintendo has learned from some of it's past mistakes and it won't give up without a fight.



I don't see this argument.. The competition hasn't lowered the Xbox game prices or helped get better games. All it's doing is confusing consumers who don't know what console to buy. It's sort of like the reform party back in the early 90's. People voted for Perot and Bush and Clinton got into office when Buch really should have won. Now you have 3 consoles and people are split between them, so most are going for the safe bet, the PS2. And I don't blame them, it's the least tech. savvy but it has $20.00 games and an A list of future titles.

Microsoft might not have lowered their prices, but Sony certainly has. Games like Maximo were $60 CAD on launch - $20 cheaper than most games. If Microsoft doesn't follow suit it's their funeral. Same goes for Nintendo.

The problem I have with your analagy is that we're talking about consumerism here and your analgy is political (two different beasts). We have the same political problem in Canada: two right wing parties split the vote so the Liberal party wins. Until they get together they're doomed to lose.

If people are 'going for the safe bet,' the PS2, then all credit goes to Sony for being first to the market and for building up their brand. Microsoft and Nintendo are only pushing them harder to keep their spot.

You make it sound like choosing one system is wrong. Let's not forget it's just a product and there are no wrong decisions. You might not like Microsoft or Sony or Nintendo, but just because others do doesn't make them wrong. Sega's problems were Sega's fault, not Sony's. You can't blame their demise as a console manufacturer because there were three consoles in the market. They blew up a lot of their previous marketing efforts with a poorly received Saturn system and they couldn't recover.

Be happy you can afford more than one of the systems (as I know you have from Survivor :) )

[Charlesaway]

Nintendo: Will be fine. Their 1st party games are excellent, and GC seems to rock so far.

Xbox: Payed too much. Other then that, good for them. Now Perfect Dark 0 will be even better :)

Rare: These guys probably feel like they've robbed the bank! They'll probably sell more copies of their games on Xbox than they did on N64.