Opinion - The Sad 40th Anniversary of Rare
An Underwhelming Celebration
The Rare Ware
Rare is one of the more iconic names for people who grew up playing in my generation. There’s a certain feeling that Nintendo hits, which, for me personally, only Rare has come closest to replicating. Not just that, but because they were willing to do more mature stuff, they came off as the teenage or young adult version of Nintendo, which hit incredibly well when paired with Nintendo titles during the N64 era. It was a company created by the Stamper brothers, Chris and Tim, spun off from Ultimate Play the Game. They made popular games such as Wizards and Warriors, Sabre Wulf, and Battletoads. Eventually, the company partnered with Nintendo, giving them a leg up in the battle against the Sega Genesis. They had found a way to make 3D renders and put them on the Super Nintendo hardware, asking Nintendo to make a Donkey Kong game.
At the time, Donkey Kong was a somewhat dying franchise, mostly famous for giving us the Super Mario character. In Rare’s hands, they made Donkey Kong Country, now recognized as one of the greatest 2D platformers of all time. The game was such a hit that the Super Nintendo took the lead on Genesis and never looked back. You can argue that Rare won the 16-bit war for Nintendo. It only got better from there as we entered what I consider the golden age of the company, the N64 era. Nintendo 64 didn’t have as big a catalog as the previous consoles due to Nintendo’s questionable decision to stick to cartridges and third-party heavy hitters going to Sony’s new PlayStation. Nintendo was able to fight back with some of the best games they ever made, but also got help from Rare, who provided alternatives such as Banjo-Kazooie and Jet Force Gemini, as well as more mature games such as Perfect Dark and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. We also got Donkey Kong 64 and Diddy Kong Racing as they continued to make games of the big ape. Most importantly, they made 007 Goldeneye, a game that is one of the stars of quality first-person shooters working on consoles and creating multiplayer house parties (I know, because I was a part of many of them).
In 2002, Rare decided to put itself up for sale, as Nintendo didn’t own the majority of the stakes in the company. The Stamper brothers were a bit annoyed that Nintendo didn’t outright buy them and barely gave them funding for their games. Microsoft and Activision entered a bidding war, with the much richer Microsoft coming out the winner in the end (ironically, Microsoft now owns Activision). Nintendo did get one last game from the company in the form of the 2002 underrated GameCube title Star Fox Adventures. However, Microsoft now wholly owns Rare. There was only one problem… Microsoft didn’t really seem to know what exactly they were buying. The Stamper brothers, the company's long time leaders, were planning to leave. During their first visit, Microsoft had an embarrassing moment when the execs high-fived each other, mistakenly believing they now owned Donkey Kong. The reality was that Nintendo wasn’t keen on keeping Rare around after discovering the Stampers would be leaving, preferring to focus on developer talent rather than studios. This would start the Microsoft era for Rare.
The Green X
Microsoft’s first years with Rare were not disappointing. The company released Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Conkey: Live & Reloaded on the original Xbox console. Microsoft also handpicked them to help shepherd the launch of the Xbox 360. The biggest launch title for the new system would be Perfect Dark Zero, accompanied by another Rare game, Kameo: Elements of Power. While both games have their flaws, they would be remembered for the launch of the console, and Kameo has even gone down as a childhood era classic for many Zellenials who grew up on the console. From there, games such as Viva Piñata and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts were released. Sure, these weren’t the most popular games from the company, but they were still trying to deliver quality content. I like to refer to this period of the company as its Silver Age.
Unfortunately, this is where the fun stops for the company. Rare had lost its visionaries in the Stamper brothers and needed a new direction. There were a lot of games that we later learned were started and then cancelled. This included Perfect Dark: Core, Urchin, and a Kameo semi-reboot. Eventually, the studio chose to go all in on Xbox’s flash-in-the-pan camera accessory, the Kinect. This is the era of Kinect games that disappointed many Rare fans. Despite this, many gamers held out hope that the company would make a better show with Microsoft’s new Xbox One console. Although a remake of Killer Instinct, a 90s fighting game Rare developed, did emerge, it wasn’t made by Rare. This is around the time I can remember gamers starting to question what had happened to Rare and if we would see the old studio back. We also got a new head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, who claimed he was listening to fans and hearing about Rare.
For the studios’ 30th anniversary, we did get Rare Replay, a compilation of thirty Rare games, and what many felt was a symbol of the studio coming back to make non-Kinect titles. That was followed up by Sea of Thieves, a live-service game, but one that has garnered a very strong community of players and fans. We also got word that Rare would allow its franchises to be used by other studios. So, Microsoft put together a new studio to make a new Perfect Dark entry. Rumors began circulating about a potential Banko-Kazooie remake or new entry being secretly developed behind the scenes. Additionally, we had Rare’s next new game, Everwild. It looked like a Renaissance was on the verge of happening.
The Sad 40th Anniversary
Earlier this year, Microsoft dropped a bombshell, cancelling both Perfect Dark and Everwild, and also made layoffs that affected Rare. Now, as we sit here for the 40th anniversary of the once great studio, we are relegated to a third-party controller to celebrate the company. Now, don’t get me wrong, this is a pretty controller, but no Xbox-branded first-party controller? The cancellation and layoffs also put the question out there, is Rare doomed to be a Sea of Thieves content studio from now on? Unfortunately, there’s a strong chance the answer is yes. We are here, in the 40th anniversary of this prestigious studio, and it feels like such a sad celebration to begin with. The promise of its renaissance is cancelled, and all we have, and I say this with great respect to its fans, is Sea of Thieves.
It’s hard to get too excited about celebrating forty years of this studio when the future for it looks so bleak. I wish I could still believe in the Banjo-Kazooie rumors, but I’ve given up on that being real. It seems Microsoft never truly grasped what they had in this company. There is a massive well of usable and popular IP here that Microsoft has deliberately seemed to stay away from reviving. The worst part? They have no plans to sell Rare to a company that actually cares. A deal with Take 2 Interactive nearly saved Perfect Dark, but Microsoft opposed the idea of selling the IP to them. Why?! It’s not like they are doing anything with it. At this point, I think it’s more of a point of pride.
When I saw the Rare 40th anniversary logo, I had a brief glimmer of hope that Microsoft was going to do something with its IP, but then the cancellations happened. I wish so badly that Rare was still the powerhouse company I know it could be. But we have to face facts. A lot of the developers in this studio aren’t part of the old guard that helped make so many of those great games. The former head of the studio, Gregg Mayles, just left, and the Stamper brothers aren’t walking through that door. The Rare we knew is gone.
Hope?
My hope for Rare lies more in their franchises and characters than in the studio itself. I hope Microsoft one day understands the buckets of quality franchises they have, thanks to Rare, and gets studios to make those games. Perhaps one day Rare will do more than just updates and expansions for Sea of Thieves. I still have a weird feeling, call it either prophetic or manifestation wishes, that we will eventually see something Banjo-Kazooie related. Unfortunately, that’s not anytime soon. Do I want Microsoft to prove me wrong? Heck yeah! I don’t think they will in the near future.
It’s been an incredible forty years for Rare, and I wish I could be more excited for the celebrations. Until then, we’ll always have my childhood.
Wow…I never heard about the incident where Microsoft thought that purchasing Rare meant they owned Donkey Kong, but that part made me laugh more then I expected 🤣.
Yeah, the Xbox 360 era was the last time I was able to spend with the then-current Rare games. I remember purchasing Kameo along with the 360 console close to launch. I think I got Perfect Dark Zero pretty soon after.
The 360 was my first experience playing games online, and I had so much fun playing PDZ with other all over the world. It’s too bad that Rare seems to be a mere shell of itself these days. But I’m glad I was at least there front and center for Donkey Kong Country in their heyday.
The fact that Microsoft executives believed that they owned Donkey Kong by buying Rare is one of the best examples of big companies not knowing what they are buying until it's too late. Recently, I worked for a company that suffered from the same fate by being bought by a holding with complete different values and culture. I thought this was a more recent problem in corporate world, but I guess it's older than I think.
Thank you so much for writing such a thoughtful piece about one of my favorite studios of all time.