PanicFreak
Member
They won't stay current forever.
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Rare might not be forced to make Kinect games but anything else gets canned
- Thread starter IOnEI Falcon
- Start date
They won't stay current forever.
krypt0nian
Banned
Perfect topic for a new book, eh kobunheat?
Kinect Sports Franchise (2 games) sales - Over 6 million
(Can't find solid sales numbers for the following other than what a certain *other* site provides)
Viva Pinata Franchise (5 games) sales - 2.75 million
Perfect Dark Zero sales - 0.75 million
Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts sales - 0.72 million
Kameo sales - 0.32 million
Apparently the public wants their Kinect games and didn't really care too much for their other efforts. If I was Rare and made something that sold over 6 million between 2 games, generated huge public interest, dwarfed my previous efforts, and probably played a substantial part in ensuring the future of my company then I'd probably want to continue that franchise too.
(Can't find solid sales numbers for the following other than what a certain *other* site provides)
Viva Pinata Franchise (5 games) sales - 2.75 million
Perfect Dark Zero sales - 0.75 million
Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts sales - 0.72 million
Kameo sales - 0.32 million
Apparently the public wants their Kinect games and didn't really care too much for their other efforts. If I was Rare and made something that sold over 6 million between 2 games, generated huge public interest, dwarfed my previous efforts, and probably played a substantial part in ensuring the future of my company then I'd probably want to continue that franchise too.
Syphon Filter
Member
huh? Kameo and PDZ sold over 1 million and i think PDZ was over 2 million.
Unfortunately I could not find solid sales numbers. The Wikipedia page and Perfect Dark Wikia states it sold over 1 million but do not provide a source. I cannot find any solid numbers for Kameo either with Rare only stating in 2008 (in reference to PDZ and Kameo) that..
many places
Member
Damn, almost all of those look super interesting and i want to play them. I am a Microsoft/Xbox fan but damn, all of these got canned, and Fighter Within gets greenlit? -_-
the better twin
Member
Yep that drawing, along with the grant kirkhope interview where he said something along the lines of there not being the games in development at rare with the scope for his music was when I knew they had been turned into a shovelware developer. Frankly all these threads about rare recently are surprising. We've know about their demise for a while. Their logo "redesign" was also painful to witness.
PixyJunket
Member
I find it interesting that the image doesn't show anything of the eight years Microsoft gave them to do (seemingly) what they wanted.
Unless it was Microsoft that told them to make a Banjo sequel that was nothing like the previous games.
the better twin
Member
Both went platinum so must have. Frankly the kinect sports figures are misleading too. It was bundled with everything and its sales came at the height of the fitness fad riding Wii sports coat tails. I doubt the new one will have any significant sales numbers.
many places
Member
Kind of sorta. It did come bundled with some versions of the console but the standard Kinect only came with Adventures. I'm sure the majority consisted of stand alone sales. Additionally it hit 6 million over a year ago (confirmed by Microsoft) which probably puts it some where around 7.5 - 8 million by now.
Also "Platinum Hits" status does not guarantee a title has over a million sales.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Platinum_Hits
Just did a small post on BanjoX, sadly not much is known to exist 
http://ptoponline.com/?p=1224. Always happy to hear from former RARE people regarding topics like this, as I said in my post, Im easy to find, anonymously or not
http://ptoponline.com/?p=1224. Always happy to hear from former RARE people regarding topics like this, as I said in my post, Im easy to find, anonymously or not PixyJunket
Member
The thread title and OP is kind of misleading, I do not think that all of these were "canned" in the traditional sense of the term.
Most of them were simply at the concept/prototype stage and didn't go any further.
DragonSworne
Banned
Some of these ideas are actually better than what Rare has been able to release. I don't understand why they were canceled.
That explains why Rare's output has been so infrequent though.
That explains why Rare's output has been so infrequent though.
Yes we have, but most people did not know of all the games Rare wanted to make that didn't happen. I just today saw someone post that it was Rare's fault for having a slow output of games on the 360. Not exactly their fault most of what they wanted to do wasn't approved.
Syphon Filter
Member
Maybe they will make other ips including older titles and have basic kinect functions and not kinect first and foremost.
PanicFreak
Member
Maybe the prototypes were actually crap? You can make any game sound interesting.
IOnEI Falcon
Member
Man I would love to see just a pic of this thing running so bad!Just did a small post on BanjoX, sadly not much is known to exist
Most of the big Rare talent left before any talks of a buyout were happening, it wasn't really Microsoft who caused them to leave. Although in the case of some this is true. However, many chose to leave early on.
We can't really say if some of these games would turn out any good though, the prototypes could have been a mess. Grabbed By The Ghoulies came out and is far from a "solid" game in my opinion. Rare got to make their Perfect Dark Sequel and Kameo, although the move to the 360 could have messed them over, Nintendo did the same to them with Dinosaur Planet. At the rate it took Rare to make games, I doubt half of those would have released on the Gamecube.
Keep in mind that Nintendo was fine owning 50% of that company and it was the Stampers who said someone had to buy them out. Iwata cut a lot of relationships with western developers (3rd parties particularly) around the time of the early Gamecube days and let them slip.
Rare was completely mismanaged and wasted under Microsoft. It was like a dog finally catching a car, they didn't know what to do with it once they had them.
I've said this before, this is about the only time I can think of where both gamers and people in the industry felt that a developer was kidnapped by a company. There even used to be a bustling Rare fan community with multiple big and populated sites, and soon after the buyout they all started closing down one by one. RareOps, Rarenet, MundoRare lasted a while, RareWitchProject re-invented themselves as TheRWP, etc. RWP is pretty much the only one left. And they're not even Rare-only anymore. And it wasn't because of the buyout directly, but Microsoft pushing the fans away.
I've said this before, this is about the only time I can think of where both gamers and people in the industry felt that a developer was kidnapped by a company. There even used to be a bustling Rare fan community with multiple big and populated sites, and soon after the buyout they all started closing down one by one. RareOps, Rarenet, MundoRare lasted a while, RareWitchProject re-invented themselves as TheRWP, etc. RWP is pretty much the only one left. And they're not even Rare-only anymore. And it wasn't because of the buyout directly, but Microsoft pushing the fans away.
DXLelouch153
Banned
at this point they need to do what other companys would do and tell microsoft to piss off
im sure Sony would love to have former rare employees working for them
im sure Sony would love to have former rare employees working for them
Fushichou187
Member
Hey there, people at Rare that don't want to be forced to make Kinect games anymore:
Defect en masse to Ninty, or better yet, Sony. Those crazies will let you make any kind of weird shit you want, mang. Don't worry about losing the "Rare" branding. FWIW it's been a long time since any of us took that name seriously anyway.
Step 1: Defect. Let MS keep the brand.
Step 2: Change your name to "Scarce", just to be cheeky.
Step 3: Sign on with either Nintendo or Sony. Hell, make Rift-compatible dating sims for the PC if you want.
Step 4: ????
Step 5: Profit
You're welcome.
Defect en masse to Ninty, or better yet, Sony. Those crazies will let you make any kind of weird shit you want, mang. Don't worry about losing the "Rare" branding. FWIW it's been a long time since any of us took that name seriously anyway.
Step 1: Defect. Let MS keep the brand.
Step 2: Change your name to "Scarce", just to be cheeky.
Step 3: Sign on with either Nintendo or Sony. Hell, make Rift-compatible dating sims for the PC if you want.
Step 4: ????
Step 5: Profit
You're welcome.
Syphon Filter
Member
sony ruined zipper.
Fushichou187
Member
Do you really think Zipper wanted to make anything else but SOCOM and SOCOM-esque games? At least Rare's been all over the map with other genres.
Still, point well taken.
shinobi602
Member
OP genuinely made me sad.
Old school Rare will always have a special place in my heart.
Old school Rare will always have a special place in my heart.
Call me paranoid, but I don't trust that wording in the Spencer quote.
What I'm saying is, he did not state Rare was not forced to Kinnectify. He just stated that he, personally, never forced his will upon them in that manner. There's a difference.
Not that I care, though. My only regret with regard to their talent and games/IP is that we never got to see a SNES level Snake Rattle n Roll sequel. Dammit. It would suck donkey dick, but I want to play it.
What I'm saying is, he did not state Rare was not forced to Kinnectify. He just stated that he, personally, never forced his will upon them in that manner. There's a difference.
Not that I care, though. My only regret with regard to their talent and games/IP is that we never got to see a SNES level Snake Rattle n Roll sequel. Dammit. It would suck donkey dick, but I want to play it.
Admit it, you just completely made this up
The key people in Goldeneye and Perfect Dark definitely left as did some artists that were with the company. A huge composer for them Graeme Norgate also left. Martin Wakeley who was the lead designer of both Blast Corps and Jet Force Gemini left as well for Free Radical.
From IGN:
"The first public defection happened in 1997, when a group of employees marched out en masse to form Eighth Wonder, a studio dedicated to developing for Sony. Well into the three-year production cycle for a successor to GoldenEye 007, Hollis and Doak decided they'd had their fill as well, taking much of their production teams with them."
http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/07/28/ign-presents-the-history-of-rare?page=5
Martin Hollis (Goldeneye lead) formed Zoonami while most of the other employees involved in both PD and Goldeneye formed Free Radical (Timesplitters series).
unholyrevenger72
Banned
cuz it won't sell 7 million copies
But there is also the DKC/Banjo team, the Conker team, the remaining guys from the PD team that completely re-designed it into one of the best games in Rare's history, a portion of the DKR team, even the Stampers. At least a large chunk of the KI team (too lazy to research,but all the main leads seem to have still been there) And probably more.
To say most of the big talent left before the buyout is a massive stretch.
They probably still are but don't have the freedom they once had? Who knows, there might be more going on behind the scenes, but this list is definitely longer than anyone would've imagined.
So sad to read about those titles, some genuinely interesting sounding games.
TheUnsunghero26
Member
Such a shame so many games were cancelled. Rare hasn't released a non-kinect game since Mattrick took over, right?
They released Banjo, and 2 Viva Pinata games after Mattrick took over in 2007
Kinect sports was the first Kinect game
Kinect sports 2 was co devloped with Big Park.
So you could say they released 1.5 Kinect games yet.
PixyJunket
Member
And Psygnosis.
Grabbed by the Ghoulies
Conker: Live & Reloaded
Kameo: Elements of Power
Perfect Dark Zero
Viva Piñata
Jetpac Refuelled
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Kinect Sports
Kinect Sports Rivals
It's a nice and varied list, but I'd hesitate to say that was an indication of Rare continuing to have it's creative spark. Almost half of the list is leftover from things that were working on When Nintendo was involved, and one is an N64 port. It's better to count the projects that were made completely out from under Nintendo's umbrella, and those only seem to be Viva Pinata, A Banjo Kazooie experiment, 2 Wii Sports knockoffs with a third incoming, and a fighting game brought to you from the fine folks who brought you Battleship: The Videogame. I think it's safe to say Rare has lost a lot of it's creativity/
Well maybe most was a stretch, but that is a significant amount of staff and some very creative people. However, I definitely didn't "completely make it up".
quickdevilred
Banned
I wonder if rare will ever make a real game again.
it seems like rare is now too bad to even remake their own franchises. dh is making ki and im sure if a perfect dark or banjo gets greenlit they will ship those games off to third party publishers
it seems like rare is now too bad to even remake their own franchises. dh is making ki and im sure if a perfect dark or banjo gets greenlit they will ship those games off to third party publishers
Yes you did. Because it appears that not even close to "most" of the big talent left before the buyout.
FUNKNOWN iXi
Member
Why don't they release smaller titles with smaller budgets instead of expecting Banjo Kazooie to sell millions?
It's like games are either on the arcade or $60. Always seemed crazy to me.
It's like games are either on the arcade or $60. Always seemed crazy to me.
Colonel Mustard
Banned
Isn't Chris Seavor now working on a WiiU game?
IOnEI Falcon
Member
Colonel Mustard
Banned
That looks pretty fantastic. Will buy, twice.
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