Yes I am saying that they are defeated in the retail only space but that has nothing to do with the Xbox's market. Games like Skylanders do well on the Xbox so a game that Rare puts out could also do well. The problem as I see it is that they will have to go through a lot of ideas to find on that sticks with the audience. Microsoft and Rare would be smarter to have them make five $10 million budget games with prominent dashboard treatment than to make one game that costs $20 million with a $30 million marketing budget.
If one of those games should catch on, they make a sequel with a larger budget. The model I'm envisioning is a model that is similar to Undead Labs but Rare would have the budget and the creative freedom to try new things.
that would be an interesting approach. i wouldn't be opposed to that at all.
with regards to rare coming up with different concepts & ideas for games on xbox, i don't believe that should be a problem for rare… they're good at that... the problem is microsoft seems to keep cancelling whatever they come up with.
look at some of those cancelled games we've been given details to…. some of them sound genuinely great! but they would probably sell on a platform that is more receptive to colourful games.
considering the genre's microsoft specialises in, you can't really blame them for cancelling everything rare comes up with….but then you have to ask, why the hell did they buy them to begin with, if they can't stay committed to establishing a sustainable younger demographic on the xbox.
The problem I see with Rare is that most people believe that its best days are behind it. To prove them wrong, you don't go out and create a mega-huge budget game that could sink the company, you start from scratch and build from the bottom up. Their old IPs don't hold any water in today's retail market and baring a very innovative re-branding similar to Skylanders, I don't see much value outside of the KI reboot model. They just don't have very many core franchises.
i don't mean to sound dense, but you'll need to pinpoint exactly what you mean by 'core franchises' here, because i consider everything rare has made (aside from viva piñata) to be 'core' franchises.
otherwise i completely agree with what you say regarding the 'mega huge budget' point. we only need to look at some of the games indie developers are making in terms of scope; and it's quite impressive! i doubt the budget for these are anywhere near the AAA budget predicament. rare should def explore this angle more.
I'm not sure I agree. How many AAA platformers sold well on the PS3? I can't think of any. The only ones that sell well have the name "Mario" and "Skylanders" attached to them. I'm not even sure Skylanders would be popular if it weren't for the toy tie-in.
how many AAA platformers sold better on xbox than on playstation, let alone a nintendo system? it's not that platformers sell completely pathetically on the xbox, it's that they sell much better on other platforms.
this is clearly not a genre that is well served on xbox, and this is going to continue to hurt rare's production if they continue to make the same kinds of games they're known for.
if you look at most retail multi-platform kart racers, platformers, mascot games, dance games, or any game in general that appeal to a casual or younger demographics, the xbox versions generally sell significantly worse than on playstation & especially on nintendo.
even with the failure that is the wiiU for example, games like sonic & rayman still sold better on that system than on the huge user base of the xbox 360.
just to highlight why this is important; nothing sells on wii u. and still, this kind of thing happens.
if microsoft had done even a fraction of a decent job at catering to this market, then there's no way something like that should happen. i mean, just on user base difference alone, you'd think those games would have done better. the difference in consoles sold between the two is absolutely drastically in microsofts favour.
I don't think they should just start thinking about making a third parson shooter because that's what has sold well on the Xbox. They should think long and hard about their core competencies and build from there.
oh i agree. just to be clear, that what i
think rare should do is completely different from what i
want rare to do.
if microsoft can't improve their younger markets, then rare needs to chance course, because if they continue to do what they do, they will continue to experience lukewarm results.
i'm 100% confident that if rare presented a prototype of game that takes a unique spin on the shooter genre, it would have a much higher chance of at least NOT being cancelled, than if they presented another platformer or kart racer.
i want rare to have some respect again, which means they need to re-evaluate what kinds of games they should be making.
i still believe these guys have it. every genre they've tackled as a company, they've done well with.
how about a racer, now? or a wrpg? these would work, i think.
