In a damming indictment of videogame makers Rare,
former Microsoft "Xboss" Peter Moore says that one of the most
successful developers in the history of video games is now no longer relevant
to today's gamers, despite Microsoft paying a record amount for the studio just
over five years ago.
Hugely successful games studio Rare was one
of Nintendo's most powerful allies a decade ago during an era in which the
Japanese entertainment giant struggled to attract high-quality games from
third-party developers.
The UK-based Rare produced many of the
Nintendo 64 console's best titles, including GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Killer
Instinct, Banjo-Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day and Blast Corps, as well as the
enormously popular Donkey Kong Country games on the Super Nintendo system.
Keen to secure a high-profile developer for
its new Xbox console (and deprive Nintendo of future hits) Microsoft acquired
Rare in 2002 for the unprecedented sum of US$377 million.
But Rare's output since the Microsoft
purchase has been very disappointing, with games such as Grabbed by the
Ghoulies, Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero failing to reach the lofty heights the
studio was famous for.
This Christmas, the Rare studio is hoping
it can win back the admiration and respect of critics and the gaming public with
new Viva Pinata and Banjo-Kazooie games for the Xbox 360.
But former Xbox Vice-President Peter Moore has
hammered the studio in a surprisingly candid interview with The Guardian,
saying that Rare's "skillsets were from a different time and a different
place and were not applicable in today's market."
"I think the industry had passed Rare
by - it's a strong statement but what they were good at, new consumers didn't
care about anymore, and it was tough because they were trying very hard - Chris
and Tim Stamper were still there – to try and recreate the glory years of Rare,
which is the reason Microsoft paid a lot of money for them."
The Stamper brothers left Rare early last
year and have not returned to the interactive entertainment industry.
Rare's latest games are Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise, an update of the 2006 original which deserved a much bigger audience than it
received, and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts
& Bolts, a dramatic departure for the platforming bird and bear, with a
focus on building your own customised vehicles using a simple but powerful
editor.