Recently promoted Peter Molyneux, now the creative director of Microsoft's European gaming operations, not only claims authority at Lionhead but also with Rare, Ltd. He indicates that he would like to bring the developers at the U.K. company more into the spotlight.
"Actually one of the things I really want to do is help Rare have more of an identity," said Molyneux to GI.biz. "And make sure the people at Rare are seen more within the industry."
Rare has long had a reputation for being media-shy, and the famously outspoken and extroverted Molyneux may be just the man to bring them more into the public eye. "I was totally blown away from the amount of talent that there is at Rare, but it's just that they come from a background where Nintendo required them to be this very, very secretive company," noted Molyneux. "I just want to give them the confidence to tell the world what they're doing. I hope you're going to see more from Rare and I want to help them get well known."
Molyneux was quick to add, however, that he wouldn't try to change Rare's style and way of doing things. "You'll definitely still recognize a Rare game," he added.
Microsoft famously paid $375 million for Rare in 2002, and it can be debated whether or not investment was truly worth it. While certain games (like Viva Pinata and Perfect Dark Zero) have sold well enough, the studio hasn't produced anything truly groundbreaking (like Donkey Kong Country and GoldenEye 007) in a while. With Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise receiving a lukewarm at best reaction from retail, and founders Tim and Chris Stamper long gone, we wonder if any truly great titles will ever come out of Rare again.
4 Comments
June 15, 2009
Very very surprising that Rare was 100% absent from E3. It's been a long time since they've released a game, yet we have no hint of what they're currently working on...
June 15, 2009
This fall Rare will be helming a slightly updated version of the N64 classic Perfect Dark 64. Achievements, graphical updates and hopefully online multiplayer will be added. And in my opinion, Microsoft got alot more out of the $25 million they paid for Bungie(even though they are independent now) than they ever got out of the $325 million they wasted on Rare.
August 5, 2009
Is that confirmed? If it is so, I will certainly be buying that game.
If Peter does what he does best, we should see lots of good games from them. The question is whether my standards will continue to rise till I can only think of the games I truly love, or will they settle back to their previous levels.
April 1, 2010
Microsoft got alot more out of the $25 million they paid for Bungie(even though they are independent now) than they ever got out of the $325 million they wasted on Rare.
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