14 DAY TRIAL // Despite delivering fewer hits during the last few years former employees still believe that the Rare development studio still has the ability to deliver video games that are at least as good as those launched during its Nintendo years.
Ed Fries, a former leader of the Microsoft Game Studios, has told Eurogamer as part of a bigger feature that, “My seven-year-old son woke me up a couple mornings ago because he couldn’t find Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.
“As you might imagine, he has lots of games to choose from in our house. But that’s the one he wanted to play. That game, of all the games. It says to me that there is still some magic left at Rare.”
Phil Tossell, who is a former gameplay director at the Rare studio, added, “A lot has been made by press and fans of the fact that many old-time Rare employees are no longer with the company, and that how somehow as a result that there’s no talent left there anymore.
“But I can safely say there are still many talented people there and I wish them continued future success. My only regret is that some of the cool prototypes we were working on never got to see the light of day.”
Video game publisher and hardware marker Microsoft has acquired Rare during 2002 for a fee of about 375 million dollars (281.8 million Euroi), buying out stakes from rival Nintendo and the founder Stamper brothers.
During the last few years, the developer was mainly linked to the Kinect motion tracking system, creating video games that take advantage of its new features, like Kinect Sports.
Fans are still expecting to see Rare develop a sequel to Perfect Dark and take advantage of core properties like Banjo Kazzoie.
Rare is also rumored to be working on a launch title for the next Xbox home console.