Rare's Scott Henson: 'We Didn't Fall Off The Map'Beloved video game developer, Rare, was so popular during the 90s that even moms know its games by heart.
We found this out after striking up a friendly conversation with a mother of three, while on a plane to Birmingham and, eventually, Rare’s Twycross headquarters.
Ignore the fact that it was a redeye, and that our seats were all the way in the back of the plane, directly behind the bathrooms. Those six hours of hell were avoided by waxing nostalgic on Donkey Kong Country, GoldenEye 007 and Conker’s Bad Fur Day, reflecting on Rare’s golden years when it worked hand-in-hand with Nintendo, back when the company could seemingly do no wrong. Our newfound friend even knew the more obscure titles from its back catalogue, Jet Force Gemini being one.
Then, as the spirited conversation neared its end, she went into deep thought and came back with something many gamers seem to agree with.
“Yes, Rare was special, and then it disappeared. Whatever happened to them?”
From that point on, we filled her in on the past eight years. How Nintendo and Rare parted ways. How Microsoft paid $375 million for 100 percent ownership, and how the developer has struggled to find its voice ever since.
There were attempts to recapture the old magic with games like Grabbed by the Ghoulies and a port of the Nintendo 64 adventure, Conker’s Bad Fur Day (renamed Conker: Live & Reloaded), both of which appeared on the original Xbox in 2003 and 2005, respectively, followed by the 2005 Xbox 360 launch titles, Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power, none of which kept the company in the spotlight for long.
Soon, critics wondered if Rare’s previous success was entirely due to Nintendo, and whether Microsoft paid an outlandish price for a developer that didn’t fit with the Xbox brand. Another Rare creation, Viva Pinata, did little to squash these concerns.
Instead of shuttering the company, Microsoft restructured it after original founders Chris and Tim Stamper left, putting the developer in charge of the Xbox 360 Avatars and, more famously, Kinect Sports, a launch title for Microsoft’s popular Kinect, the motion sensing peripheral that allows for controller-less gaming.
Turns out, Kinect Sports was a huge success that sold in excess of three million copies. Microsoft was so impressed it green-lighted a sequel almost immediately.
No big surprise to the studio’s new leader, Scott Henson, a 16-year Microsoft veteran who was given the role of overseeing Rare last October.
“We didn’t fall off the map. We might have changed and evolved. Our focus is different, but we haven’t fallen off the map.”
For gamers, it’s easy to think otherwise. That’s what happens when a company goes from working on some of the biggest video game franchises (Donkey Kong Country, Banjo-Kazooie) to the aforementioned Ghoulies.
“Fallen off the map is interesting when you sell over three million units,” said Henson. “I like that falling off the map. It’s great success in this industry.”
To be fair, Rare has done what many studios can only dream of, creating a successful IP praised by reviewers and loved by millions, something it’s made a habit of in its 26-year history.
“If you look at what Rare has done,” Henson continued, “whether it was Killer Instinct in the arcade or Donkey Kong Country and pushing pre-rendered graphics, they always innovate as a studio. That has stayed the same.”
“The studio created a new beloved franchise in Kinect Sports. There’s more than three million people that have this in their homes, playing and loving it. The difference is we started from scratch, instead of something people know, like Donkey Kong.”
What about living up to Microsoft’s $375 million?
“We absolutely have. We delivered as much to the platform as any other studio. With the success of Kinect Sports and what I believe will be a successful Season Two, I think Rare lived up to its potential.”
That, of course, is debatable. If anything, Rare has finally hit its stride, first with the Avatars- a project Henson says “goes far beyond anything the studio has ever done”- and now with Kinect Sports and its promising sequel.
His biggest challenge, though, is to put the company back into the mind of our friend on the plane, who like many gamers, clings to Rare’s past instead of what appears to be a promising future.
“It’s a new day,” said Henson. “We’re excited about Season Two and it’s something to celebrate. The title itself is about connecting people to video games. It’s a new Rare. It’s an exciting place to push boundaries for what’s possible.”
The real question is whether players will mention the Kinect Sports franchise in the same breath as Killer Instinct, GoldenEye 007 and Donkey Kong 64.
To that point, the developer still has a ways to go.
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We'll have more on Rare very soon, with an inside look at the studio and a gallery of photos. Stay tuned!
