Rare Founders Defect

[Logan Frederick]

Rare Founders Defect

The Stamper brothers leave Rare, the studio they co-founded.

Chris and Tim Stamper, the brothers who co-founded Rare in 1982, announced that they have left the studio to pursue other interests. Mark Bryant, a 19-year employee of the company, and Gregg Mayles, the creative director of Donkey Kong Country and Viva Pinata, will be replacing the brothers as Rare's Studio Director and Creative Director, respectively.

This announcement comes shortly after the disappointing launch of Rare's newest title, Viva Pinata. However, Microsoft contends that game sales did not effect their departure. 1Up [http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3156140] was told that, "Chris and Tim have helped shape Rare into the world-renowned development studio that is it today and their impact on the videogame industry as a whole is well known. They are simply leaving to pursue other opportunities and we wish them luck in their future endeavors."

After beginning life as a Nintendo third party developer with hits including Donkey Kong Country and Goldeneye, the England-based company was purchased by Microsoft in 2002 for $375 million. Since then, the studio has released five titles for the Xbox and Xbox 360. Rare's next project is a new edition of Banjo Kazooie for the 360.

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[Bongo Bill]

Hm. Where are they going, I wonder? Viva Pinata showed the world that their team does, in fact, remember how to make good games.

 

[Ajar]

Hm. Where are they going, I wonder? Viva Pinata showed the world that their team does, in fact, remember how to make good games.

That's true, but unfortunately it hasn't sold all that well so far.

 

[heavyfeul]

I haven't played Viva yet, but I think they were aiming for a demographic that may never be a significant portion of the 360 install base. Projects that do not live up to expectations, like Viva, will only discourage MS from bankrolling games like it. Why bother when you can just sell a million copies of a bad GTA rehash like Saint's Row.

 

[Goofonian]

I still think rare would have been better off sticking with nintendo. Its easy to argue that it was a good time for nintendo to sell, and maybe not so easy but possible to argue that it was a good time for microsoft to buy. But the truth of the matter is that games like kameo and viva pinata (and banjo no doubt) sell better on nintendo consoles where cute and fuzzy is the norm.

As a general rule, nintendo owners are happy to overlook a kiddy friendly style to get to great gameplay, while xbox owners..... well there is a reason halo and gears sell REALLY well.

 

[Ajar]

I don't see why a console manufacturer should wilfully perpetuate stereotypes about people who own their consoles. Encouraging disparate demographics to buy their consoles would increase sales in the long run if successful. All it takes is money, which Microsoft have been quite willing to spend.

Of course, I say that someone who owns and likes both Gears of War and Viva Pinata.

As an aside, I never played Saints' Row, but being a GTA clone doesn't inherently make it a bad game [http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/saintsrow]. There's something to be said for adding polish to existing gameplay -- Okami is widely regarded as a Zelda clone, for instance, but that isn't a negative trait.